The Escapists
by sngsngsnyrslp
Summary: Gale and Madge bond over a mutual need to escape their lives.
1. Falling into Line

**I own none of the characters, but love them with all my heart! **

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Madge liked to think of herself as the ultimate escapist. She had an astounding amount of hobbies, because for the most part she didn't have much to do besides her schoolwork and care for her mother. She didn't have friends other than Katniss, who was gone. Each of her hobbies helped to fade away her nagging thoughts on the problems with the house she lived in inside of the district she lived in inside of the awful country she lived in.

One of Madge's hobbies was people watching. She was so quiet that no one took much notice of her and since she hardly ever talked no one really minded her presence, because in all honestly who would she tell? Katniss? Katniss was in the Hunger Games fighting for her life. Her mother, who was too sick to care about senseless gossip? Her father was definitely too busy running the district to give a shit about Cain Peterson cheating on Lynn Masters. Most circles just let her leech on because she was the Mayor's daughter, so she learned everything about everyone. This is where she learned most of the information she knew about Gale because she definitely didn't get any information from Katniss.

Gale who liked to think he was more of an enigma than he really was. Maybe all the other Town girls couldn't figure him out, but Madge was far too smart and well read to be confused by him. He hated girls like them. He wouldn't give any of them a second glance, especially not her. She was the absolute worst to him, with her pretty dresses, new shoes and makeup. She didn't care much for him either in all honesty. She saw the way he teased some of the Town girls. They fell all over him. But he didn't want any of them, but he knew they wanted him. It was almost like he broke their hearts in retribution for their higher social standing.

But worse was the way he always failed to see the bigger picture, and it infuriated her. She personally did not cause every single problem in District Twelve. She was just a sixteen-year-old girl, who had no control over anything. She didn't even pick what she wore, half the time; it was all her mother. Her mother, who was too ill to stay awake, but made sure to set up dates for Madge to ensure she married someone worthy of the mayor's daughter. Madge herself couldn't care less about marrying someone from a good family.

Madge couldn't even focus on the future when her only friend's life was hanging in the balance.

She was quietly anyway hiding behind a tree in the meadow shielding herself from none other than the Gale Hawthorne. She knew he was going to get in trouble for leaving while the Games were being shown. His presence would especially be missed since most everyone watched him for his reaction to every moment Katniss was on screen. Today had been an especially hard moment to witness. The irony of the Girl on Fire on fire was not missed by anyone in that square.

Before she realized what she was doing she was already entering in the meadow, and it didn't make much sense to go back now. However, she was apparently not as quiet as she had thought. Leaves crunched louder than she expected underneath her sandals.

Gale turned around, a grimace on his face. "Come to turn me in, Undersee?" To anyone else he would probably have been extremely menacing.

She shook her head. His grimace continued to grow.

"You don't belong here, Undersee, wouldn't want to ruin your pristine dress." He fingered the collar of her dress. Gale was towering over her; she backed up until her back was to a tree.

Madge swallowed looking up at him. "You just fall right into line, don't you?" She stared up at him defiantly. Let him rack his brain trying to figure out what she meant by that! Just like she had with that damn "pretty dress" comment on the day of the reaping.

Gale's eyebrows furrowed in confusion; he couldn't begin to understand what she was referring to. They were interrupted before he could ask what she meant. His thoughts had been too preoccupied with Madge's words to hear the steps of Peacekeeper Cray approaching them. She quickly embraced Gale and placed her head on his chest, but not before harshly whispering, "Shut up and hold me!"

Her small body was pressed hastily against his. Gale confusedly wrapped his arms around her.

"I just can't believe what they're doing to our Katniss! It's so unfair!" Madge bellowed loudly enough for Cray to "accidentally" overhear.

"Miss Undersee is that you?" Cray shined his flashlight toward the embracing figures of Madge and Gale. She stepped away from Gale and slowly approached Cray.

"Yes, it's me. I am so sorry, I know we're supposed to be watching the Games, but I just couldn't. It hurts so badly. Gale was just a gentleman, he didn't want me walking this late alone." She was really laying it on thick, even producing a few fake tears for the production. Gale smirked as he saw Cray's face soften.

"I'll let you off the hook this time Miss Undersee, but next time I'm sorry you'll just have to grin and bear it like the rest of us."

"Thank you so much. I promise this is the only time." She held her hands behind her back. It made her seem so innocent.

"I'm headed in the direction of your house, let me walk you back." He motioned for Madge to step away from Gale.

Gale was left with lingering thoughts as he watched Madge's figure fading in the distance.

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**Any lingering thoughts?**


	2. The Tutor

**Sorry this chapter is so short!**

**I do not own the characters.**

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Madge was overcome with free time ever since her father hired a nurse to attend to her mother. She no longer had to cook for her, help bathe her or make sure she got her daily dose of morphling. Just like that her life became even more boring than she ever thought possible.

It was then that she decided to help tutor after school, and it was there that she met Rory Hawthorne.

Rory was struggling with his algebra class. He had just failed his last exam, and he couldn't get anything less than a C or his mother would have his hide. So he dragged said hide to tutoring every day for the last two weeks in hope of finally understanding enough to pass. To be honest, he didn't mind missing his usual hangout time with his friends much considering Madge was so sweet and even far prettier than any girl he had been in contact with.

"So what's the Pythagorean Theorem?"

Rory stared at her blankly. "Uhhh…"

"A squared…" Madge started him off. It wasn't that Rory was dumb; he just got nervous when put on the spot. She figured the fact that she was a girl didn't help him much either, but there wasn't anything she could do to change that.

"Plus B squared equals C squared!" He exclaimed happily, just to be shushed loudly by the entire librarian staff. His head shrunk down towards his body, his face burning with embarrassment. He put his down as he hastily wrote down the Pythagorean Theorem.

It was hard for her to recognize the fact that Rory was related to Gale. Yes, Rory was a younger version of Gale, the same shaggy dark hair and the same grey eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. Rory didn't have the same prejudices toward her that Gale did. Rory laughed with her and didn't bring up the fact that she was from the Town or even that she was the mayor's daughter. She was just Madge to him, and that's what she liked the most about him. Madge couldn't ignore the dirty looks she got in the hallway from not only most people from the Seam, but most kids from the Town too. She heard them when they called her a prissy snob; that was pretty nice compared to some of the other things she had heard in passing. That's why she liked Katniss so much. Maybe it was because her mother had been from the Town or maybe it was because she just didn't care, but Madge appreciated that she was just another shy quiet girl to her.

Rory waved his hand in front of her face. "Panem to Madge. You in there?"

Madge shook her thoughts away and laughed. "Sorry got a little spacey. How are you feeling about that test in a few weeks."

His eyes moved down to his notes and he bit the end of his pencil nervously. "Uh…"

"Don't worry!" Madge patted him on the back reassuringly. "We still have a few more study sessions to get through before then. Just relax, you know everything you need to."

Rory tensed up at Madge's hand on his back. He wasn't used to girls touching him, and the fact that it was Madge made him even more nervous. He'd heard Gale and his friends talk about her before. Thom always mentioned how curvaceous she was, he was usually a lot more lewd than that. He always said that it was a shame she didn't know what to do with it. That had always confused him, what the hell did that even mean? That was usually when Gale chimed in about how it was because she, unlike the rest of the district had enough to eat. Rory realized that Madge's family had more money than his and her house was a lot nicer than his, but that wasn't her fault. She hadn't chosen her parents, just like they hadn't chosen theirs. You didn't get to choose your lot in life, it was just given to you and you had to make the most of it.

"Let me tell you this, if you get a B on your test than I will take you out for ice cream. How does that sound? Fair enough?" Madge really liked Rory and if this gave him an incentive to try harder than that's just what she would do.

Rory stared at her incredulous. He'd had ice cream once on his eighth birthday and it was probably the most delicious thing he'd had since. Madge was so kind; Rory just couldn't understand how Gale could talk so much shit about her. It absolutely baffled him. She had never gotten cross with him, even when he wasn't paying attention to her or when it took him over an hour to fully comprehend just one concept. She didn't have to offer him ice cream either, to spend her money on him. Someone who she'd barely known for a month. But she did, and Rory was positive that even if he didn't get a B she would still take him for ice cream. That was just the kind of person she was.


	3. Absence

Sorry kinda filler. Next chapter will be exciting though!

Review please!

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Chapter Three

"Gale! Gale! Gale!" Rory ran up to his older brother in a scurry. He was royally screwed.

The voice of his brother was made Gale turn. He was obviously scared and anxious. "What's wrong?"

"She's not here!" Rory couldn't help that he was yelling. He almost started crying, but that wouldn't be manly and Gale and Vick were right there and then he would never hear the end of it. She wasn't here and it was the day before his test and he was definitely going to fail. Then his mother would murder him for failing that stupid algebra class, and then he'd be held back and none of this would turn out very good.

"Who?" Gale was thoroughly confused; the only girls Rory knew were Katniss and Prim. Prim was over there, and he definitely knew where Katniss was.

"Madge! I'm gonna fail and mom's gonna kill me! And you suck at math! Do you think we could stop at her house? I just need to go over a few things. I can't fail that class you know what mom what do to me!"

Madge? What was his brother doing with that prissy Townie? Math? What did math have to do with anything? Goddamnit. Madge was Rory's tutor. That's where he had been after school for the last month. This boy was going to be the death of him.

"Don't you think that's a little weird? Showing up at your tutor's house? Especially considering you're just a dirty little Seam rat to her." She probably just took pity on him. Stupid little Seam kid can't do math. Not that it would even matter he was probably going to end up in the mines just like their father and his father before him. You didn't need to know math or history or grammar to work the mines.

Rory stared at him as if he just said the stupidest thing he had ever heard. "I need this grade Gale! She won't care I promise! She's the nicest girl ever! Please Gale!"

Gale groaned. Ever since that moment he had with Madge Undersee in the meadow she was permanently etched into his brain, no matter how much he protested. Her scent, of daisies, her small body pressed against his. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it. He was only a man. Goddamn she was just so small and delicate. Her waist had felt so tiny when he wrapped his arms around her. That moment replayed in his head. He could still feel the curve of her breast against his stomach, and her full rounded hips against him. Goddamn. And that whisper. Her voice was still hot in his ear. If she were anyone else Gale would already have put in some time with her down at the slagheap. But she wasn't just anyone else. She was Madge fucking Undersee, the mayor's daughter. Someone who looked at him with disdain and pity.

Gale forced his brother to knock on the big oak door, while he and Vick stood behind him. Her business was with Rory not them.

Madge opened the door. Her usually radiant hair was thrown up in a messy bun at the top of her head, her eyes were watering, and her nose was red. There was no ribbon in her hair, nor was there an expensive dress on her body. She was still in her pajamas. She was obviously sick. Her face lit up as soon as she saw Rory. "Rory! I'm sorry! I wanted to go to school because I knew you needed the extra tutoring session, but my dad forced me to stay home!" She made an angry face in the direction of the Justice Building where her father worked. "Come on in!" She readjusted the blanket draped around her shoulders. As Rory entered her house, it was then that she saw Gale and a smaller boy, who she knew from Rory to be Vick, his younger brother. "Oh." She stopped at suddenly felt extremely self-conscious in the presence of Gale. It was just embarrassing to see someone you knew hated you at your worst. There were teddy bears on her pajamas for Christ's sake!

She moved to the side, gesturing for both boys to walk inside.

"Hi Gale." Gale nodded toward her. "Uhm, you must be Vick. Rory's told me a lot about you!" Vick smiled proudly. It wasn't everyday that a pretty girl acknowledged his presence.

At first, all three boys stared in amazement at the size and grandiosity of the house. The foyer was the size of their entire house. The looks of amazement on their faces made her feel incredibly guilty; only three people occupied the house.

She coughed to get their attention away from the grandeur of her home. "Do you guys want anything to drink?"

Vick was about to make a request, but Gale elbowed him in the side to shut his mouth. They were poor, yes, but they weren't about to beg Madge Undersee for water.

"No thanks," Gale chimed in for both of his brothers.

"Okay…" Madge walked past them her eyes on the ground. She knew what Gale was thinking about her, and maybe if she wasn't so tired and sick it wouldn't affect her so much, but in her state it made her guilty. "My room's this way."

All three boys followed her into the light blue room. Her room was lined with bookshelves. Gale had never seen so many books in one place. She motioned for Rory to sit at her desk, and the other boys to sit on her bed. Madge grabbed another chair from her father's study to sit with Rory.

Hopefully this would be quick.

Madge walked the boys to the door. Gale stood behind to speak privately with her. He had been surprised at the way she treated Rory. She didn't treat him like he was stupid or like he was any less than her. Gale couldn't deny how pretty she looked when she was laughing at one of Rory's stupid jokes. Her head tilted back and her eyes wrinkled as a smile lit up her face.

"I just wanted to say thanks for helping Rory. Y'know, I'm not so keen on school, so I can't help him the way that you can." This shocked her. Gale was actually thanking her, and he seemed incredibly sincere about it.

"It's no problem. He's an amazing kid. I'll see you guys around school." She looked past him and waved toward Gale and Vick.

"Goodbye," Gale muttered underneath his breath.

Madge slowly walked up the stairs to her room where she found a note on the part of the bed where Gale had been seated. She hesitantly opened it.

In messy writing was written, "Meadow tomorrow 5PM." With his name scribbled hastily underneath. She figured maybe he would ask about what she had said in the meadow, about him falling into line. Why would he care what she thought about him though? She certainly had stopped caring what he thought a long time ago and most anyone actually.


	4. Sorry About That

i own nothing!

things are picking up, yay!

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Chapter Four

Madge had been unsure of what to wear to her meeting with Gale. Last time she had been in the meadow she'd felt overdressed and out of place in her dress. Dresses didn't exactly mix well with Mother Nature. But how long could she be in the meadow anyway? How long would a quick screaming match take? She was certain he was going to be rude to her. That was to be expected and she'd be stupid to assume anything else. Surely he'd ask her about what she'd said last week. But there was no way he'd want to hear her conspiracy theories about the Capitol. He'd probably say that she didn't have any reason to be against the Capitol in the first place; after all they did pay her father's salary and kept her living in the luxury that she was accustomed to. This encounter would only end in an argument, though it wasn't as if she was unprepared. Sometimes she would just sit around thinking of retorts and comebacks to possible insults Gale or most anyone else could throw at her. He wouldn't catch her off guard. No one did.

Gale was staring into the vastness of the forest while he waited for her. Embarrassingly enough he'd arrived early. That wasn't common for him, but he'd been incredibly anxious. How could anyone say that he fell into line? Gale Hawthorne did not fall in line. He hunted and bought and sold at the Hob. That in itself was enough to earn him his death. On the surface, Madge seemed like the perfect follower, but the more he thought about it and her the more he could see all the ways in which she wasn't. She spent her money on poached strawberries from beyond the fence. Her friendship with Katniss was also out of the blue. Her status obviously made no difference. Not to mention that damn Mockingjay she had given Katniss. Solid gold. Katniss had never even been in possession of something so valuable in her life. On paper, Madge wasn't half bad, but in reality Gale couldn't bring himself to see beyond her status. Not to mention that she was a representation of everything he could never have nor provide his family with.

Posy was the apple of Gale's eye. The moment he stepped into his home she demanded his whole attention. Posy couldn't attend a district event without a never-ending commentary on the beauty of none other than Madge Undersee. How her hair was so pretty and shiny, and those damn ribbons that his family wouldn't dare waste their money on, but she happened to have in every imaginable color. Her dream was to grow up and look just like Madge when she grew up. Her wardrobe would be filled with pretty dresses. Pretty dresses that neither his mother nor him could ever afford. For the most part Posy was stuck wearing his and his brothers' hand-me-downs.

A tall figure stood in the distance, the unmistakable figure of Gale Hawthorne. Broad shoulders, tall, and muscular. She could spot him anywhere. She cleared her throat when she was within five feet of him. He spun around and looked at her. Their staring contest lasted a few moments too long. They had never been around each other without a buffer. At first it was Katniss and the last time it was Rory and Vick.

"Well, what did you invite me for?" That was the most obvious question.

"You know, I haven't been able to stop thinking about what you said." His hand ran through his hair, ruffling it. "How do I fall in line?" His eyes bore into her. "I probably do more illegal things in this district that most everyone." It was a rarity that Gale spoke to her without anger in his voice, and this was one of those rare times. He seemed to be more confused and baffled than angry. He'd racked his brain trying to figure out what she had meant for the last week.

"Do you ever wonder why there's such a wide economic division in this district?"

At first he was taken aback, but then he considered the question. No one ever wanted to discuss politics with him. Katniss just always sat by and listened obviously waiting for when he would be done with whatever rant he had on condemning the Capitol. "Townies keeping us down and in our place." He chuckled at his own joke.

Her fists clenched at her sides and a scowl overtook her delicate face. She didn't hesitate to stomp toward him and yell in his face. "This is exactly the reason why those economic disparities will always exist. Ignorant thinking like that! Do you realize just how small this district is? If we ever wanted to rebel we would have to come together as a district." At the mention of the word "rebel" her voice dropped to a whisper. "We would have to come together as a district and I'm not saying rebelling is the answer, but don't you think that could be a strategy to keep this district from doing just that? How simple would it be to wipe out the entire Seam if they were to rebel? We could never come together against the injustices in this nation, not with people like you who condemn the other half the district. It's just what they want, you know. So just continue to hate us for what we have, and we'll continue to hate you for not having enough." Before she turned around she gave Gale a final look of disgust, then took a few steps away.

A sigh escaped his lips. What she said did make a lot of sense, but he didn't want to be the one to admit it, especially not to her. She hadn't walked away just yet though and from the way she was breathing Gale could tell that she was calm herself down. She turned back around though, much calmer now. "When I was younger I didn't know about the awful things that happened to the people in the Seam. I was blind to the explosions in the mines and to all of the children who starved to death. I was stupid enough to assume that the Capitol must just not know about it because if they did they'd surely stop it right? What kind of person could just sit by and watch their compatriots starve to death? And then I saw you and Katniss when you were receiving those medals for your fathers, and I knew they knew. They knew that your fathers were gone and that your families were starving because of it but they just didn't care." She looked up at him with a heavy heart. "I know what you guys say about us. How we couldn't care less about you guys starving, but I do care. I'm always dragging that guilt around with me, everywhere I go, that I live in excess while you guys are barely scraping by. And I can't do a thing about it Gale I'm just a sixteen-year-old girl. I have the same amount of power in this district as you do."

Gale brought his hand up to wipe away some of the stray tears that had fallen from Madge's eyes. If there was anything in this world that could break his heart it was the sight of a girl crying. It just twisted his heart, especially to see such a beautiful girl like Madge with a tear-streaked face. He felt guilty that he was the cause of all of this. "I'm sorry Madge." She shook away his hand that lingered on her skin for a tad too long. "No really I am." He placed his hands on her shoulders, where they completely overwhelmed them. "You're not the one who's responsible for the pain and suffering in this district. Some place in my head I know that, but it's just so much easier to find a scapegoat. And there you are with your gold mockingjay pin, that pure white dress, and your matching ribbon. Do you know what that'd dress look like after a day in the Seam?"

Madge shook her head.

"It'd be fucking black." He smiled at her.

A giggle escaped her lips.

"I'm sorry that I blamed you for everything." It was the truth, even though he didn't like to admit he was wrong.

His gaze was focused on her eyes, and hers on his. "It's fine. I get it. I just don't like it."

He offered her his hand, "Friends?"

Her gaze fell to his hand and she shook it.

"Y'know my sister practically worships you," Gale smiled rubbing the back of his head. Gale had offered to walk Madge back home, and on the way back they had to pass through the Seam.

Madge tipped her head in confusion, "What?"

"What do we have here?" Thom approached them looking back and forth between the couple.

"Hi Thom. This is Ma-" Gale started.

"Margaret Undersee." He finished grabbing her hand and kissing it.

"You can call me Madge." She was blushing a deep crimson.

"Well Madge, I'm Thomas, Gale's best friend." Thom was a few inches shorter than Gale and far thinner. He wasn't as handsome as Gale either, but what he lacked in good looks he made up for in charisma, Madge could tell already. "I just had this crazy thought. There's going to be this party down here in the Seam for all of the seniors retreating into the mines and you should come. I'm sure you'd have a great time especially if Gale here was your dancing partner, but even more so if you had me as one." He grinned at Madge.

Her face was still crimson; she smiled politely. "I'll consider it, but I should really get going or my dad will start worrying. Bye Gale tell your family I say hello." She looked toward Thom. "It was nice meeting you Thom."

Thom's smile grew wider, "Oh the pleasure was all mine."

"Bye Madge," Gale muttered.

Gale and Thom stared at Madge's retreating figure.

"It's like it's such a shame to see her leave, but damn does she look good walking away, doesn't she?"

Gale punched Thom in the arm.

Thom laughed, "You're kidding me right?"

Gale stared at him blankly, "What?"

"You're not interested in her, are you?"

"I'm not. We're just friends."

"Oh I forgot your heart lies with the fair maiden Katniss."

Gale scowled at him giving him another punch.

"Fuck man that was in the same exact place. That's good because I'm incredibly interested in trying my chances with Princess Undersee."

Gale groaned. Fucking Thom.


	5. A Treat

**I had no idea what to name Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen so I just went with what I thought sounded good. If you don't like it I apologize beforehand. **

**I own nothing other than the words!**

**I can't wait for the party, right?**

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Chapter Five

Madge was grinning like a madwoman all the way to the Hawthorne house. Because of her tutoring Rory had gotten an 'A' on his exam! Not that she was trying to take away any of the credit from him, he put in so much time and effort to earn that 'A'. She was just so proud of him and she was keeping good on her promise to get him ice cream.

It wasn't more than five seconds after she knocked that a small dark haired girl appeared in the doorway. Her huge grey eyes stared up at Madge in shock. _The _Madge Undersee was at her door. She smiled up at Madge, "I like your ribbon," she complimented with her hand outstretched pointing to the blonde's hair. Madge's smile grew as she worked her way up to touch the periwinkle ribbon adorning her bun. "Thank you, you must be Posy."

Posy nodded, still grinning.

"Posy, who's there?" Gale's mother reached to open the door to see who her daughter was talking to. She stood surprised at the figure with blonde hair in her doorway. It was a rarity for someone from the Town to come down to the Seam.

Her gaze was unsteady on Madge. "If you're looking for Gale he's not here." The girl looked to be a few years younger than Gale. She was unsure of what business this girl had in the Seam, especially at their home.

Madge's gaze fell to the floor as a blush overcame her face. "Oh, no. I'm here to see Rory. I'm his tutor actually and I owe him ice cream." She hoped to God that his mother wouldn't think that she saw him as a charity case. Rory earned that ice cream, and that had been the deal.

"Oh! You must be Madge! The mayor's daughter, yes? He's been talking about you for weeks!" She grinned warmly at Madge.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh no need for formalities here Madge, you can call me Hazelle."

It was then that Rory appeared from behind his mother with Vick trailing behind him.

She smiled, "I'm here to pay my debt, Ror. Hi Vick!" She waved at the two boys. "Are you ready?"

Rory nodded as he made his way past his mother. "We'll be back in a jiffy, Ma." As he passed he patted Posy on the head, who grimaced.

As they walked towards the Town, Madge was certain she heard faintly, "She's so beautiful, Ma" from a small childish voice. She smiled at the utterance. Posy was adorable. Although she resembled her brothers there was a shining light in her big eyes that was all her own.

"Madge you know we don't have to do this, right? We can just take a walk around the square or something before the games start. You don't have to buy me anything. I'm just happy I passed." Rory was searching her eyes for obligation or something that would cause him to feel uneasy for this exchange. He wasn't used to getting handouts.

Madge rolled her eyes as she opened the door to the market. "I have an allowance Rory, one that I never spend, so stop worrying. I want to do this for you, you earned it."

"Alright," he said grinning. "If you insist." I mean how could anyone in their right mind turn down ice cream?

He stared with her at the ice cream counter. There were so many flavors to choose from. Last time he had tried vanilla, which was delicious, but now that the chance arose again he wasn't going to waste it on such a plain flavor. This was the time for experimentation. He turned to her; surely Madge had tried more flavors than just vanilla. "What are you having?"

Her eyes moved over each of the flavors. What to choose? What to choose? "Hmm" She said considering the question. Vanilla was too plain. There was always chocolate, but if that got on her blouse or skirt then it would leave an ugly stain. She grinned as her eyes fell onto the strawberry ice cream, the pink ice cream with pieces of real strawberries cut up inside. "I think I'm going to have strawberry. What about you?"

He continued staring at all the choices. "How's cookies and cream?" It wasn't very often that Rory ate cookies either so why not get the best of both worlds.

"Oh! It's delicious, trust me!"

Madge looked over the counter and asked the man for their ice creams. The look the man gave her was unsettling. The sight of a Seam boy and a girl from the Town was not common, especially in such plain sight, but Madge wasn't trying to hide. Rory was her friend and everyone would just have to deal with that. She wasn't ashamed.

She handed over the ice cream to the boy at her side and grabbed hers, but as she was paying she was overcome by a troubling feeling. "I am so rude!" She exclaimed turning to Rory.

Rory's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, it reminded her of Gale. She had just paid for his ice cream, how could she be rude?

"You're going to go back to your house and your siblings are going to see your ice cream. That's just not fair. You know my mother taught me that if you're going to bring something home you need to bring enough for everyone."

Rory stared at her in surprise. Who was this girl? His family had done nothing to deserve such an extravagance, but here she was still willing to give it out for nothing, just out of politeness. "Are you serious? I mean they won't mind, I promise. I mean I can't ask you to do that for them."

She looked at his as if he had two heads. "Rory I really don't care. I have the money, and I couldn't stand the look on Vick or Posy's face if they saw you with your ice cream. Oh! That would be awful!" Her lips turned downward at the thought. What else did she have to spend her allowance on? Most of the time she just bought ribbons or fabric to make a new dress. She had enough ribbons and dresses. It was the polite thing to do, and if there was anything that was drilled into Madge's head it was the rules of proper etiquette. "C'mon help me decide what to get them. I hope it doesn't melt before we get back."

Rory and Madge had walked the way back to the Seam with four ice cream scoops in cups in a brown paper bag, while they happily walked along licking from their ice cream cones.

"We have a surprise!" Rory announced joyfully as he opened the door while Madge stayed behind shyly.

Posy squealed with delight; she loved surprises. Hazelle raised her eyebrows thoughtfully, while Vick sat up on the couch looking towards the door.

"Ice cream!"

The small girl raced towards the door almost tripping over herself in the process. Madge kneeled down to her level, "I hear your favorite color's pink." She nodded excitedly. "It's mine too." Posy grinned. "So I thought you'd like strawberry because it's pink!" She handed Posy the cup of ice cream, and in return she received an enthusiastic hug.

"Thank you, Miss Madge!" As she turned to walk away Hazelle grabbed her shoulder.

"Madge we can't take this." She scowled at Rory; he knew better. "And I can't afford to pay you."

Madge's eyes widened in surprise at her statement and the look she had given Rory. She didn't want anything in return, and she definitely hadn't wanted to get Rory in trouble. "Oh! He didn't want me to get him any either, but I insisted. And I couldn't stand the thought of Rory coming back home with ice cream while the rest of you didn't have any. My mother always taught me that it was incredibly rude to come home with food just for yourself. If you don't have enough to share then you shouldn't be buying any in the first place, she always said. So this is my fault. Don't blame Rory. I just didn't want to seem rude. It's nothing, really."

Hazelle stared at her in confusion for a few seconds before her face broke into a grin.

The door opened revealing a very mystified Gale. What exactly was she doing in his home and why did everyone seem eerily happy? Was he in the Twilight Zone or something?

Posy ran up to him, "Ice cream!" She offered him a taste of hers. Gale bent down to pick her up. She placed a spoonful of strawberry ice cream in his mouth.

"Mmmm! Delicious Pose. Where did you get this from?"

Posy smiled delighted. "Miss Madge got us all ice cream!"

His eyebrows rose in surprise at Madge whose face was red with embarrassment. It was cute how she was avoiding eye contact with him.

"Rory thought you'd like vanilla." She grabbed a small cup out of the bag and handed it to him.

"Yeah! Because you're boring!" He shot out immediately running behind his mother to shield him from the impending wrath of his older brother.

Gale shook his head laughing. He was going to pay later for that one. He said thank you to Madge, but gave her a look as if to say "we will talk about this later."

She was in for it. Madge groaned on the inside. She was so over talking about their differences in social class. It seemed as if everyone but her actually cared about it. She'd rather not even waste her time thinking about it.

Rory distributed the rest of the ice cream cups. Cookies and cream for Vick too and butter pecan for Hazelle.

Gale moved to sit at the kitchen table, with Posy sitting on his lap. It was hard to hate Madge when she was being so nice to his family. Especially when he saw the look on Posy's face when she announced what _Miss Madge_ had brought for them. He smiled down at Posy who was determined to eat her ice cream just like Madge, which meant no spilling down the front of her shirt or without having any ice cream smeared on her face. She was concentrating hard on this one task. His eye focused on Madge from across the table whose eyes were focused on the small girl on his lap.

After they had all finished their ice cream, Madge made a movement to leave. She would only have about twenty minutes to get home before the Games started. They were mandatory to watch, even for her.

"Oh won't you stay to watch the games with us? I could make us some tea!" There was just something about Madge that Hazelle liked. At first she had worried that perhaps Madge saw her family as a charity case, but after her explanation and the worry in her eyes she knew that wasn't the case. Anyone that was willing to risk their reputation to spend time with those less fortunate made an impression on her, and from the look in her eyes she could tell that Madge saw them for them and not for what they didn't have. She didn't seem phased by their small house or their beat up couch. It had been the same way with Lillian. Everyone else had thought that she was just playing around with Eustace Everdeen's heart, but she knew better. People from the Town didn't risk their reputation that easily. Status was very important to them, which is why it was still somewhat surprising to see the mayor's daughter sitting at her kitchen table.

"Of course," Madge felt welcomed. Usually she watched the games alone. Dreading each passing moment, waiting for the second they were over so she could do something just to get the thoughts out of her head. "Let me help you!" She rose from her chair.

Hazelle extended her arm towards her, "I wouldn't dream of it! You're our guest. And this family owes you enough already, with how you helped Rory pass with an 'A.' Lord knows how you did it."

Madge cackled aloud. "It was all Rory, I swear!"

"C'mon brainiac, the games are starting," Gale touched her elbow in passing. He motioned for her to sit on the couch alongside him. The moment Claudius Templesmith's voice filled the living room he saw the change in Madge. It was as if she had put on a mask, her face frozen in apathy. She didn't display any emotion until his mother gave her the cup of tea. A smile appeared on her face. "I love spearmint!" And as she turned her head back to the television the mask emerged again.

Katniss and Rue had a plan to blow up the Careers' food supply. Katniss had just sent her first arrow at the supply; it hadn't caused much damage. It was the second arrow that caused the destruction. Explosion after explosion. Then Katniss was sent flying. Gale's hand clutched at hers as if on instinct. She squeezed back to reassure him. Katniss stumbled for a few seconds before she got back onto her feet. Her feet ran back into the forest. Where was Rue? She hadn't heard the mockingjay call, and from the way Katniss looked as if she was straining to hear it seemed as if she had probably gone deaf in one ear. That was bad, very bad indeed. And then she heard it, the calls of the mockingjays. As if on cue everyone let out of sight of relief. But they had gotten their hopes up too soon. It was then that they heard another sound. Everyone paused. The desperate cries of young Rue. She had been caught in a trap that was set up by Marvel, one of the Careers. Madge braced herself for the violence that was sure to follow. She turned to look at the dark-haired girl in Gale's lap. Thankfully, she had already fallen fast asleep, all that sugar.

As she turned back to face the screen all she could see was blood. Blood and a spear thrust into the body of a child. It was all so grotesque. Gale tightened his grip on her hand, his knuckles white. This was good. It was an escape from the atrocities in front of her.

Gale's grip loosened as Katniss sang to the young girl's body, that was when she needed him the most. She needed the painful distraction. It was easier to deal with the violence than this. As an audience they were attached to the alliance between the young girl and Katniss. Madge was attached to them. So much that she couldn't control the rogue tear that fell from her eye. As Katniss stopped singing and begun to sob, more tears threatened to fall. It was then that she shut her eyes and imagined herself back home playing piano. If she imagined each and every detail then she could almost block out Katniss's voice.

Gale could feel how tense Madge was from her spot next to him. He turned to see her, her eyes sealed. The trail of one tear was visible on her alabaster skin. "It's over." He whispered reassuringly in her ears. The viewing was over for the night, until tomorrow.

Her eyelids flew open. She got up from the couch, smoothing down her skirt. She really should be getting home. "Thank you for the hospitality, Hazelle, but I really need to be getting home."

"You're welcome anytime."

"Madge, wait up. I'll walk you home, just let me put her to bed." Gale was careful not to wake a sleeping Posy.

The blonde turned to see a very sleepy Vick who was trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. "Bye Vick. Bye Rory."

They turned to her, gave their thanks for the ice cream and said their goodbyes.

Gale closed the door carefully. "Ready?"

Madge nodded and waved goodbye to the rest of the Hawthorne family.

A few minutes were spent in silence, just the sounds of their steps filling the silence.

"What was that about?" Gale turned to her shoving his hands in his front pockets.

"What was what about? The ice cream? I owed Rory, and I couldn't be rude and just only get him some. If you don't have enough for everyone then there's not enough for anyone." The sentences escaped her mouth in a hurry. She didn't want to make a big deal about this. They had just become friends and it seemed so stupid for something as small as a few ice cream cones to ruin it already.

"No I was talking about the closed eye thing, but I had been wondering about the ice cream."

"How do you deal with the games, Gale? It must be really hard seeing the girl you love fight for her life."

Gale stared at her. It was as if everyone knew. "I just do as Peacekeeper Cray says and grin and bear it. There's not much I can do, you know?"

"I do everything I can to escape while it's on, and then afterwards too. It just permeates into every crevice of your brain. I can't even stand it. While it's on most of the time I can watch, but sometimes I just have to pretend I'm not where I am. This probably sounds so stupid. You probably think I'm the weirdest person ever."

He smirked, "Sometimes yeah, but right now no." He didn't think he had a good enough imagination to take himself away from the games while they were on, but maybe she could help him escape the thoughts the rest of the time. "How do you escape the rest of the time?"

"Oh! I have tons of hobbies. Most of the time I play piano or read. Reading a good book can just about transport you to any time or place in the world. It's amazing. I highly recommend it. But sometimes I sew, or knit, or run. My mom prefers when I choose running as my escape." She groaned aloud.

"Why?" It wasn't like Madge was overweight or anything. As far as he was concerned her body was as close to perfect as anyone's he'd ever seen.

"My mom says my hips are too big and that I should lose a few pounds. And I quote; there's no way you can attract a man when your hips are as wide as a house. I don't run for that though. I think that's ridiculous actually. It's a nice getaway anyway."

Madge's hips were a little wide yes, but in a good way, a shapely way. None of his friends complained about her hips. Thom practically worshipped them. "I don't think you need to lose weight or anything, Undersee. Trust me, guys don't mind a few pounds extra." He winked at her.

Her cheeks blushed. It didn't seem to matter anyway. She didn't have much luck with guys anyway, and for the most part they didn't seem to have much luck with her either. Madge's mother set her up on dates at least once a month, but none were very interesting to her.

"So your parents want you married off pretty soon then?" The thought didn't settle well with Gale.

"It's my mother. If it were up to my father I'd grow up to be a spinster. She wants me married off by 18 to a well-to-do boy from the Town." She sighed at the thought. The thought of being married to someone just for money made her sick to her stomach.

"What do you think?"

"I'd wait until I was eighty, as long as I was sure it was with the one."

He stared at her. He was unsure of himself. "What about to someone from the Seam? What if you fell in love with a miner?"

They were just about approaching her house. "I wouldn't mind as long as he made me happy. That's all I want, just someone to make me happy. That's all anyone can ask for." She looked up at Gale. "Well thank you for walking me home, it was very gentlemanly of you." On her tiptoes she reached up to whisper, "Don't worry we'll discover your escape soon enough." She pulled away grinning. "I'm determined!"

Gale laughed, and as he walked away he was preoccupied with the way that his stomach had somersaulted because of her whisper, her scent, and definitely her proximity to him.


	6. Do You Wanna Dance?

**I've been spoiling you guys updating so often, that probably won't happen for the next chapter because I honestly have only a faint idea what is coming up. **

**Let's give it up for Thom though! I _adore_ him! **

**I own nothing but the words and my dear love for them!**

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Chapter Six

_East of Eden_. After hours of searching through the shelves of books in her bedroom and then the shelves in her father's study Madge finally decided on that book. It had to be just the right book right off the bat or he would probably never take another book suggestion from her again.

She was clutching the book as she walked towards the Hawthorne household when she heard a familiar voice scream out her name. Her head spun around to meet the familiar grey eyes of Thom.

"What did the Seam do to deserve being graced with your presence, today darling?"

The comment caused a groan to escape her lips. She hated when people acted like she was some sort of a princess.

"I was dropping off this book for Gale." She motioned to the book in her hands.

"Gale reading? I'd pay to see that. C'mon I'll accompany you on your walk." They began walking side by side. "You see, I thought that maybe you just were so excited for the party tonight that you arrived extra early. Maybe you were just so excited to get me on the dance floor. Or maybe you were more excited to see me perform," with that he gave a little shake of his hips.

"Perform?"

Thom raised his eyebrows at her. That definitely got her attention; it usually got most girls' attention. "What's a party without music? I play guitar and sing, but don't worry I wouldn't leave you lonely; I'm only going to sing a few tunes so I'll have plenty of time to dance with you."

She giggled at him. It was apparent, even to Madge, who didn't even know how to flirt, that Thom desperately wanted to dance with her. If she did choose to go, which would require sneaking out, she figured she would spend most of her time with Thom or Gale considering they were the only two people she knew there who didn't despise her. "You are incredibly absorbed with the idea of dancing with me, aren't you Thom?"

Thom grinned. "C'mon, Madge how often will I, a future coalminer, get the chance to dance with the most beautiful girl in Panem?" To that Madge rolled her eyes. She was hardly the most beautiful girl in Panem; she wasn't even in the top ten of District Twelve.

Madge stopped in front of the Hawthorne household, and turned to Thom, "flattery will get you nowhere." Hazelle opened the door, smiling affectionately,

"Hello Madge, Thom. What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to drop off a book for Gale." She handed over the book to the older woman. "He'll know what it's for." Nodding, Hazelle said her goodbyes to her son's friends.

"So what are you off to do now, doll face? Wanna jam with me?" The hope in his eyes was undeniable, she just couldn't say no.

"I'll watch you play, but I doubt I can jam," she said laughing. "I mean my instrument of choice weighs about five hundred pounds."

"Well I meant maybe you could sing along, darling. Angels _always_ have beautiful voices."

"If I keep having to roll my eyes like this they're going to fall right out of my head. Where are we headed?"

"That would be a shame with those beautiful blue eyes." Thom had grabbed her hands and was leading her away from Gale's house. "My house, of course, that's where my guitar is."

His house was a five-minute walk from Gale's. He stepped momentarily into the house to retrieve his guitar before returning to her side. "Follow me." He led her to the back of his house where there was two wooden chairs. "Sit."

Madge sat in the chair across from him as he begun strumming. As he played Madge couldn't see any trace of the Thom she knew. He wasn't smirking, but was absorbed by the instrument on his lap. She was mesmerized. He had begun humming along to the tune he was playing. His hands moved quickly over the neck of the guitar and he plucked the guitar strings with the tips of his fingers. Her eyes closed and she listened to the intricacies of Thom's guitar playing. It was so beautiful Madge could hardly stand it. Soon there after that the music stopped. The song had ended too quickly for Madge's liking. She could've sat next to him for hours just listening. It wasn't often that Madge met someone with as much of a passion for music as she, and it was obvious that Thom was one of those people. She could hear it in every note he produced. "Play another one. God, it's so beautiful!"

He smirked as he begun playing another song. This was a different experience than the others he'd ever experienced. First, usually by now girls were all over him, it never took more than one song. Madge was different though; her eyes were fixed on his hands, that is when they were open. When they were closed she was swaying to the music, experiencing each and every note. This was a girl he wanted to know.

Every time he finished a song, she was disappointed. "We should play together sometime."

He shook off the statement quickly. Him? In the mayor's house? That was unlikely.

Thom's thoughts were written all over his face. He didn't believe her. "I'm serious. If you're too chicken to come over you could always teach me to play," she said in jest though she badly wanted to learn how to play. She hadn't expected him to pick her up on the offer.

"We can do both." He handed the guitar over to Madge and moved closer to her as to be better able to direct her hands to their rightful places.

That was how Madge's guitar lessons began.

Gale was dancing with Martha Flynn when he saw a red ribbon through the crowd. He almost dropped Martha right then, but he quickly regained his composure. She was standing by the musicians as they played. Her eyes didn't leave them. At first they were on Thom, which caused a knot in his stomach, but then her eyes moved to Johnny on the bass, then to James on the banjo and then to Ben on drums, but her eyes always went back to Thom where they lingered for longer than Gale was comfortable with.

The knot in Gale's stomach tightened when the next song began. Thom's eyes never left hers as he sung. As if to communicate to her that the song was in fact dedicated to her without having to say a word. Naturally it was a love song. The lyrics literally told exclaimed each and every one of his thoughts. How subtle of his friend. But she didn't seem to mind. She swayed to the music, grinning all the while. He told himself that after this song he would approach her and ask her to dance with him.

That plan didn't work out as Gale had planned. As soon as the song ended, Thom jumped off of the makeshift stage and walked towards Madge, grabbing her hand, kissing it. All Gale could do was watch. He watched as Thom spun her around. His eyes didn't move from their direction. Thom whispered something in her ear and her head fell back exposing the pale flesh of her throat. They continued like that for the rest of the song. Gale couldn't stand to watch. He moved his focus back onto Martha whose attention was fully on him. She forced herself closer to him with every song, at first he hadn't noticed, but by the fifth song her body was pressed against his and it made him incredibly uneasy. It was probably the least attractive thing, a girl forcing herself onto you. Yeah he could admit that most of the rumors were true. He had spent his fair amount of time at the slagheap, but it hadn't been like that for many months. Since Katniss, who he couldn't bring himself to think of, especially not when his mind was filled with jealousy over Madge and Thom.

"You know Thom you're quite the dancer," Madge praised as he led her in each dance that she was unfamiliar with. It was times like these that Madge loved being a woman, when she was unfamiliar with a particular dance her partner could just lead her. Thom was a good leader.

"I'm quite good at plenty of other things as well darling," he alleged with a wink.

Madge grinned cheekily back at him. "You should know I am practically spoken for."

With his mouth agape Thom questioned who the guy in question was.

"Connor Marshall, he's sort of courting me."

"Courting? People still do that?" Thom couldn't believe that still existed in this day and age, maybe it was a Town thing. It sure as hell didn't happen in the Seam.

"It does, so please behave yourself Thomas." She gave him a stern look and he proceeded to drop his hand from her waist. "It's nothing serious yet," she grabbed his hand and placed it back on her waist. It was rare that Madge was able to let loose and dancing with Thom was the perfect outlet. He didn't care when she took the wrong step or stepped on his shoe. He just laughed, and carried on. "I'm thirsty." All this dancing was really wearing her out.

"Let's get us a drink then, darling."

By the time Gale focused his attention back toward them they had left. Gale excused himself from Martha and walked away in search of them.

He found them sitting on the ground, their backs against adjacent trees passing a flask between themselves. He approached them wearily; he didn't want to interrupt them if they were having a private moment, yet at the same time that was exactly what he wanted to do.

Madge caught his eye before he could backtrack. "Gale!" Her eyes lit up. "C'mon sit with us!" Gale moved down sitting next to Madge, across from Thom. At the choice of tree Thom raised his eyebrow. The blonde across from his had hardly noticed as all her attention was focused on the young man next to her. She could already feel the heat from his body on her side.

He wanted to say thank you for the book, but he didn't really want to discuss it in front of Thom. It was their thing and no one else's.

"Does the mayor know his daughter is drinking in the Seam?" Gale asked with a sly smile.

She burst out laughing. "Oh God no! I snuck out."

Gale gave her a sidelong glance. "Oh really? Is that something you do very often?" If it was then those were definitely some stories Gale wanted to hear about. Where would she be sneaking off to in the middle of the night against her parent's wishes? Or better yet, _who _was she sneaking off to see?

"Me?" She pointed to herself. "Never!" She announced shaking her head exaggeratedly. "But that's kinda a good thing, I've never given my father any reason to be suspiciousss." She handed the flask over to Gale. "Oh Lord I'm starting to slur my speech, take this away from me."

Gale chuckled as he grabbed the flask from her hand and took a gulp. He figured he might as well make the most of this night before the mines consumed his life. To his left he saw Madge preparing herself to stand. Albeit was shaky she got herself into the standing position all on her own.

She bent down grabbing Gale's hand. "You owe me a dance!"

Gale was quicker on his feet than she had been, but he had consumed less alcohol and definitely weighed more than her. "Well Thom was hogging you!"

Thom stuck his tongue out at Gale, and he stayed sitting against the tree. He seemed to be far more gone than Madge had been. He usually stayed quiet when he was drunk as to not let on just how drunk he actually was.

The drinks had loosened Madge up and she no longer cared that she didn't know the right steps or that she was the only Townie there. It was just Gale and she on the dirt dance floor.

Gale danced with most everyone so he was confused about why dancing with Madge made him nervous. He swallowed thickly as he placed his hand on her waist, his hand covering much of her side. They joined hands and she placed her free hand on his shoulder. She smiled up at him through her eyelashes. They danced to the beat of the music moving together as one. Gale could tell that Madge needed to be led. Within a few songs Gale grew more comfortable and his hand moved toward her back, bringing them closer to each other. Her face was flushed, whether it was from the alcohol, the dancing or him, he didn't know, but it made her look all the more beautiful. The dancing had caused several strands of hair to fall out of her braid. Though he could only take in a few details concerning the rest of her appearance because for the most part his eyes were trained on her eyes and lips. Her eyes, because they were shining such a bright blue, that he could only look away from them to look down at her lips, which pouted and twisted sporadically. It took everything in him to not lean down and take her bottom lip between his. Everything.

When the song ended her feet stayed planted on the ground, and Gale's followed suit. But their arms were still wrapped around each other. Her eyes fell onto his lips. He was biting his bottom lip as if he was holding back. Katniss was one lucky girl. Gale was gorgeous, loyal and caring. His muscles were hard underneath her hands and this was bad, definitely bad. Unrequited love was not something she was particularly interested in.

"We should really get you home," he stated. He needed to put a little distance between them or if it were up to him he'd have her pressed up against the sane tree they had been sitting under.

She nodded moving her hands away from him. She really did need to get home before anyone noticed she was gone.

"Let's get going; I'll walk with you."

Madge linked her arm with Gale's and leaned onto his shoulder. "I'm incredibly buzzed," she announced happily. "I had no idea Thom could play like that!"

Gale groaned inwardly. He was alone with Madge and all she could think to talk about was Thom? "Yeah he's pretty good."

"Pretty good? He was incredible! I can't wait until he teaches me!" Every sentence that came out of Madge's mouth was an exclamation. She was just so happy.

"Shhh!" Gale whispered laughing.

"Oh! I'm being really really loud aren't I?"

"Yes, you definitely are." The town square was in their sight. "I wanted to say thank you for the book. I don't know why you're being so nice to me."

Madge turned to him serious, "You have enough on your mind without adding the horrors of the Hunger Games. I mean yeah I know Katniss's safety is obviously going to worry you, but I dunno what I'm tryin' to say anymore. But I like you so maybe that's the reason."

Gale's eyes widened in shock, and thankfully Madge had moved her head back to his shoulder. She was drunk so "I like you" could mean just about anything, though he was unsure which definition he wanted.

Before Gale had realized they were already in front of her house and she was in front of him. Leaning in she planted a kiss on his left cheek, and she lingered there for a few seconds before whispering, "Thom was definitely wrong, I had a much better time dancing with you."

Gale's breath hitched. Madge was definitely trying his self-control and it was obvious that she had no idea. No idea what her proximity did to him, nor her scent that filled up his nostrils every single time she was within arm's reach of him, or even that whisper. She had no idea that for the next few days, she would be his escape. When the thoughts got too awful to think of his mind would automatically travel to her, to her smile, her laugh, anything. She was just enough to keep all the demons at bay.


	7. Princes and Princesses

**I guess I lied about not updating within a day because here is the next installment. It was probably because of all the encouraging reviews! I hope you guys are satisfied!**

**I own nothing! Except for Connor and a few others.**

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Chapter Seven

Madge was sitting with Hazelle helping her fold laundry while Posy looked on. At first she too had tried to help just like Madge, but her piles were just too sloppy so she stopped and watched. She felt like a big girl sitting with her mother and Madge as they discussed just about everything. Her interest especially grew when Hazelle asked about Madge's special _friend._

"His name is Connor Marshall. His family owns the furniture store. He helps make the furniture."

Hazelle narrowed her eyes trying to put a face to the name. "He's a few years older than you isn't he? Is he the one with the scars?"

Madge nodded. "Yeah my mother set me up with him. He's 21. It's only five years; I'm sure it wouldn't matter down the road." His scars were one of his distinct features, there were two of them right on his face, deep too. One on his left cheek from getting punched by Elliot Whitmore, son of the jeweler, who happened to be wearing a ring at the time. The other was on his forehead, between his eyebrows, from falling off his bicycle as a child and right onto a jagged rock. They gave him character.

"Very true. Gale's father was six years older than me, but I fell for him just the same. So do you like the boy or what? I live in a house filled with boys and Posy here is too young for girl-talk. I am in dire need for this conversation!" The woman's eyes were unrelenting. She wasn't going to let Madge out of her sight without hearing every detail.

Madge paused, thinking about Connor. "He's nice enough, but he's just so shy. He'll walk me home and is content with the lack of conversation. He's plenty handsome though, and his heart's always in the right place." All of those things were true, but there was just no spark. Nothing that drove her wild about him. Wasn't that what was supposed to happen?

"Where did he get those scars again? I think Gale told me about it when it happened, but I just can't remember. Gale must've been around Rory's age."

"I don't know if you remember that Elliot Whitmore was engaged to Connor's older sister, Cora?" Madge was unaware if Town gossip got down all the way into the Seam, because for the most part she never heard any Seam gossip.

Hazelle nodded, "Only vaguely, but go on."

"Well they were, but he was found cheating with I don't know who, and when Connor caught wind of this he tried to beat him up, but he was only fifteen while Elliot had to be twenty-five or older. He punched him back! He was wearing this huge ring and it dug into Connor's cheek, so awful." Madge's face was flushed in anger. He could've easily overpowered Connor to stop him. He didn't need to actually punch him back. Elliot _was_ in the wrong in the first place!It was only natural that Connor would want to defend his sister.

"I can only assume they didn't get engaged."

"Oh of course not, especially not after the beating he gave Connor."

Posy yawned, bored. She tried to keep up with their conversation, but she didn't know who any of them were. This wasn't even the good part. She wanted to hear about their love, and such. They laughed at the small girl's boredom.

"Would you mind if I took Posy off your hands for a few hours?" Posy looked up at her mother excitedly.

"Please?" Her eyes were wide and pleading.

"Sure, I'll send Gale to pick her up when he comes home from work."

Madge grabbed the girl's hand and they said their goodbyes to Hazelle.

The girl looked up expectantly. What did Madge have planned for them?

"What's Connor like? Is he like Gale? Or is he like Peeta?" Madge laughed. Yesterday, Katniss had found Peeta and kissed him. A lot.

"Well, if I have to choose I guess Peeta, but not really like him either."

"What's he like?"

"Well he's brave like Gale, tall like him too, but blonde like Peeta with blue eyes too. Hmm. He's very nice, very quiet, and handsome too. He bought me pink roses on our first date." Madge laughed at the inquiring girl. She was eating up every word she said. She liked Connor enough, but she hadn't had enough time to get to know him. He wasn't one to divulge everything about himself. It would just take time. Her mother on the other hand adored him. She had even got out of bed for a nightcap when he brought her home. It was a rarity for her mother to get out of bed.

"I think you should marry Gale, then he can be a prince, because you're a princess." The way she had said it so matter-of-fact made Madge guffaw loudly and obnoxiously.

She picked up the dark-haired girl. "Is that so? I don't think your brother would want to be a prince."

Posy furrowed her eyebrows. "Every boy wants to marry a princess!"

Madge balanced the girl on her hip as she took out her key to open the door. "But every boy doesn't want to marry me. Every boy wants to marry Katniss, now. Didn't you see how beautiful she looked on TV?"

Posy pursed her lips considering the idea. "But I don't want Gale to marry Katniss. She's not as nice to me as you are and you look pretty everyday not just on the TV."

Madge giggled at how ridiculous this conversation was. Gale would marry whomever he wanted and Katniss looked beautiful everyday in real life too.

" C'mon crazy girl." She led Posy up the stairs to her room. She had a special treat for her. "Want to play dress up?" The brunette nodded enthusiastically. "Alright."

She opened up her closet doors and dug in the back searching for a box filled with old clothes. Her mother refused to give away anything, so all her old dresses stacked up at the back of her closet. In the way back there was a box filled with clothes from when Madge was about Posy's age. Carefully, Madge brought the box out of her closet, making sure not to knock over the rest of the boxes. She rifled through the box searching for a specific dress.

"What about this one?" Madge pulled out a lilac gingham dress that looked about Posy's size.

"For me?" The girl asked pointing to herself. Posy owned one dress and it was for special occasions so she only wore it to the Reaping, when she waited with Vick and her mother for them to let Gale and Rory go.

Madge nodded helping Posy remove the hand-me-downs and replace them with the cotton dress. It fit her perfectly!

"Oh my! Posy you look even more beautiful than usually!" Madge picked up the girl and placed her onto her mirrored dresser. It worked as a full-length mirror for Posy.

"It's so pretty!" She turned around to give Madge a hug. Madge placed her back onto the floor. As soon as her feet reached the floor she did a twirl letting the dress fan out around her.

"Can I do your hair too?"

Madge braided the sides of her hair away from her face and brought them together at the back of her head with a purple ribbon. After Madge had finished the delighted girl examined herself in the mirror happily.

"Just like yours!" This little girl was just about the cutest thing Madge had ever seen. Posy looked down at her feet. The shoes that she had worn there would ruin the entire outfit. Everything had almost been perfect.

The blonde had noticed the way she looked down at her socked feet. They weren't the pretty kind of socks Madge had worn as a child with lace trim. Instead, they were boyish and grey from coal dust and dirt.

"Just let me look around." Madge retreated back into the closet in search of other boxes from her childhood.

Madge returned with socks and shoes in hand. Posy felt like the most beautiful girl in the world, next to Madge, with her new dress and matching ribbon, and now that she had pretty shoes to go with, everything was perfect.

Gale had been annoyed with his mother when she had told him he had to walk all the way into Town to retrieve Posy from Madge's house. Normally he would've jumped at the chance to see Madge, but he was just so exhausted. Each step to Madge's was excruciating. All he wanted to do was lay down and relax.

One of the workers, presumably Mrs. Undersee's nurse, let him inside and told him where his sister and Madge were. The woman was annoyed because he had tracked coal dust into the foyer. He removed his boots and walked upstairs towards Madge's room. His ears filled with the sounds of their giggling all the way from the first floor even over the music he assumed was coming from her room. Although his muscles were aching their laughter brought a smile to his face.

Madge was dressed in her white lace Reaping dress when he entered the room. Her hair was down in ringlets framing her face. Posy was in her arms and they were dancing around her room to music coming from a radio on the dresser.

They didn't even notice him for a few minutes, and Gale didn't make his presence known. They were having fun, who was he to interrupt?

It was Posy who noticed him first and screamed his name in joy. Madge put her down and she ran into Gale's arms. Gale stopped her before she could. This was exactly what he had always wanted for Posy, pretty dresses and ribbons. She looked so adorable he couldn't stop grinning at her. "Pose, you're so beautiful! I don't want to ruin your dress with all this coal dust." Gale brought up his hands, black with coal, for her to see.

She frowned. "You're dirty!"

Gale chuckled. "I know, baby, that's why I don't want to ruin your dress."

"But I wanted to play prince and princess with you!" She seemed incredibly disappointed.

He hated to let down Posy. There was so little she got in this world, so had always made sure to play her silly games with her. Though that was before the mines, before his muscles ached so much that he could hardly move. He was disappointing her more and more lately. "Play? But you're always my princess!"

"No!" She announced shyly, "not me. Madge is the princess and you're the prince."

Madge's eyes widened, just like she had said earlier in the day. But it was just a kid's game, how bad could it be right?

Posy grabbed Gale by the hand and led him to the adjoining bathroom, "you can't play if you're dirty! Clean up!" He laughed; this little girl could be bossy when she wanted to.

Madge poked her head into the bathroom. "Uhm, do you want another shirt to change into?" His mining uniform was covered in coal, especially his shirt. He shook his head.

"I've got a shirt underneath." He unbuttoned the mining shirt and a tight black shirt covered his body underneath.

It didn't leave much to the imagination. Madge could just about outline each and every one of his muscles with her eyes.

Gale's eyes met hers. He was smirking. Madge turned around her face hot.

When Gale was ready, Posy dragged him back into her room. "Alright, you guys have to dance now. Princes and Princesses always dance at a ball."

Gale turned up the music, and bowed in front of Madge. "M'lady."

Her face was red with embarrassment from him catching her, but she played along for Posy and curtsied.

Gale started to lead her in one of the dances they had done a few nights ago, but Posy stopped him. "No! Princes and Princesses don't dance like that!" Gale rolled his eyes.

"I think she means ballroom dancing."

His eyebrows crinkled. He didn't know how to ballroom dance.

"All I know is what I've seen on TV from dance competitions in the Capitol."

"Alright, more than me."

"Let me think. Uhm I think you go forward first with your left foot, then with your right and then to the side with your right." Madge paused. "Or maybe it's the opposite."

Gale shook his head. "Whatever. She won't know the difference. Just pretend to be fancy." He stepped with his left foot, following Madge's directions and continued doing the same configuration until Posy announced her next command.

"Now do the thing where you almost drop her." To that Madge's eyes widened. She had been dropped before on the dance floor and it hurt.

"She means dipping," he muttered underneath his breath. He moved his hand to the small of her back as he slowly brought her closer to the floor. Madge's eyes never left his. He grinned at her, "not half bad, right?" As he brought her back up the tension in her back loosened.

"You're doing very well."

They continued to dance until Posy's next command silenced them.

"Now you kiss!"

His head shot to look at her. What was she doing? Yes, he did want to kiss her, but not like this, not in front of his little sister under her direction.

Madge got on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. His cheek was rough under her lips his stubble was growing in.

That fulfilled her demand, right?

Oh but it hadn't. They turned to look at the girl sitting on Madge's bed who was shaking her head. "They do not kiss like that." She made it a point to annunciate every word. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

He looked at Madge. "It's just a kiss, right?" But he didn't even mean that. It wasn't just a kiss with Madge. His head had been filled with thoughts of her from just a kiss on the cheek and a few dances. This was all of that and then one actual kiss.

Madge swallowed nervously. The last time she had been kissed was when she was probably just a few years older than Posy.

"I promise it won't be that bad." He lowered his mouth to hers slowly. The anticipation was killing her. At first he lightly glided his lips over hers, and then he brought her bottom lip between his and ran his tongue over it. She was clutching onto him with all her might, scared that if she let go her knees would buckle and drop her to the floor. She was too enthralled by the kiss to even notice Posy's clapping, but Gale did. He smiled in the kiss and slowly moved away lingering for a few moments. "I told you it wouldn't be that bad."

It wasn't anywhere close to bad. It made fireworks burst in her stomach and her head was still spinning.

He turned to Posy, "Was that good enough?"

Posy continued clapping. "And they lived happily ever after!"


	8. Trouble Breathing

**I own nothing except for Connor.**

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Chapter Eight

It's on a Sunday that Gale realizes he is falling in love with Madge.

He had gone into the woods to hunt only to find her within the fence sitting with a book in her lap, her back against a tree. She didn't seem to notice him, her eyes never leaving the book.

"What are you doing here?"

Madge placed her finger on the page, marking her spot. "Reading."

"Okay, let me rephrase it. Why are you reading here?"

"It's nice here, and quiet." She doesn't mention the fact that her mother's getting worse, a lot worse, and quickly. She doesn't say that she's not strong enough to see her mother writhing in pain. The morphling isn't working the way it's supposed to. It's not strong enough to dull the pain her mother's feeling. Her headaches have been getting so bad that she sometimes loses her sight. It's such an awful sight. She just needed to get out of the house and fast.

He can see the pain in her eyes. There are traces of it all over her body as well. In the way she holds her arms, as if they were broken. Even what she's wearing. This is the first time Gale has ever seen Madge in anything less than her best, other than when she was sick and hadn't expected them to even be there in the first place. She has her hair in the same messy bun. She's wearing a grey t-shirt, black jeans and a pair of boots. Add a hunting jacket and she would pretty much look like Katniss, except her jeans are better fitting and so is her t-shirt. She looks as beautiful as always.

"I wasn't aware that you owned a pair of jeans." He really wasn't. Even in the winter for the most part she wore dresses, except instead they were made from what looked like wool and she usually wore tights. Rarely pants.

"Remember the hips. My mother doesn't like the way they make my hips look. What are you up to?" She doesn't want to talk about her mother right now. She came here to get her mother off of her mind.

Gale nods. "Hunting." He pauses before asking if she wants to accompany him.

"Really?" She sounded excited.

"Yeah, why not? You're dressed for the role." Gale offered her his hand smiling.

Madge grabbed it, and placed her book in her satchel.

"What are we hunting, wabbits?" She laughed softly at her own joke.

The hunter looked back at her confused.

"Oh, right. Little to no electricity in the Seam..." She trailed off embarrassed. "Well it's from an old cartoon."

"Right. We're hunting whatever we can find, but mostly I'm just checking the snares."

She walked behind him, trying to be as quiet as she could. This was definitely helping to get things off of her mind. She focused on the man in front of her. The way his muscles moved underneath his black t-shirt. If only she could reach out and touch them. She stared at his hair, and how she could tell it needed a trim.

"How are the guitar lessons going?" Thom had mentioned to him at work that he had gone to Madge's for lessons.

"They're okay."

If he hadn't thought something was wrong with her he was positive there was now. The Madge he knew would be jumping at the opportunity to discuss music. This Madge was silent and somber. "Is there something wrong, Madge?" He stopped and turned around. There was something wrong with her, and he didn't like the way it felt to see her like this. It weighed heavily on his heart.

She shook her head, looking down at her boots and the grass on the ground. Anything but his face, which she knew would make her be honest. She wasn't good at lying, especially not to people's faces.

He grabbed her face gently, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "You can trust me, you know?"

"I know that. I just don't want to talk about it." Just looking in his eyes was making her eyes water. They made her want to divulge all of her secrets.

Her eyes were glossy, brimming with tears. He embraced her.

That was the final straw. She couldn't take it anymore. Her body shook with sobs. His grip on her tightened and she buried her face in his chest. She hated being vulnerable like this, but with Gale she felt so comfortable; it was almost impossible for her to hold herself together. Through her sobs she was choking out words, but he couldn't understand her. She was crying too hard, and her words all sounded the same to him.

They stayed like that for awhile, she continued bawling and murmuring while he held her and whispered into her hair. He revealed his own secrets to her. How it felt when his father died, how scared he was. How her mother was still pregnant with Posy when it happened, and he couldn't afford her losing the baby because she wasn't getting the nutrition they both needed. The life of his family meant so much more to him than his own. He tells her about how scared he was to walk into the woods alone, without his father. He confesses about how much he misses him, still and that it hurts that Posy will never know how good he was. He tells her things he's never told anyone as well. How everyday he goes into the mines his heart beats out of his chest in fright. That his nightmares consist mostly of him dying in the mines, and his siblings dying of starvation because of it.

Suddenly she stopped, and moved away from his chest, though he kept his arms around her. She moves her hands up to his face and softly wipes away the tears that had fallen from his eyes. He hadn't even been aware that he was crying.

He changes the subject. "Tell me again what you were saying."

She tells him everything. About how her mother is dying and there's nothing that her nor her father can do about it. How they just have to sit by and watch her die a painful death. How the morphling doesn't work how it's supposed to anymore. She tells him about how when she sleeps she can hear her mother thrashing around and crying from the pain. How today she couldn't see because the headache was so bad. This time when tears fall from her eyes Gale kisses them away. He's kissing her entire face, her eyelids, her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, anywhere he can reach. Although his lips have been all over her face he's still surprised when she kisses him back on the mouth. The kiss isn't gentle. There's a power behind it that Gale was unaware Madge even possessed. Her hands move to his hair, raking through it. She doesn't seem to notice the groan that escapes his lips. Gale can't stop wondering who taught her how to kiss like this, with a passion that takes his breath away.

When she breaks away, her face is flushed, her lips swollen, and her hair had somehow fallen out of its bun, though Gale knows it was him that undid it, but she didn't even seem to realize it. "Sorry, I guess I got carried away."

If that was her getting a little carried away, Gale could get used to it.

He nodded at her, breathing heavily. He'd never been kissed like that, with such passion. A girl had never taken _his_ breath away, he was the one who did the breath taking.

She felt vulnerable and uncomfortable under his gaze. That was a very un-Madge thing to do.

"You go check the snares and hunt, I think I'll just take a break for awhile." She needed to separate herself from him, she couldn't risk another outburst like that. Yes, she liked Gale. A lot. More than she should, more than was probably good for her considering the assumed history him and Katniss had, and technically she was sort of taken. Kind of, but not really.

She sat down, her back against a tree, though not the same tree and began reading. When Gale returned Madge had read through about three short stories. She felt his presence next to her.

"What are you reading?" He inquired as he sat next to her, dropping his game bag next to him. He put his head on her shoulder trying to see the text.

"It's Flannery O'Connor's Collected Short Stories. She's sort of grotesque." His hair was grazing her jawline. She liked this, the feeling of him next to her.

"Will you read to me?" He had repositioned her so that her back was to his chest, under the pretense that he wanted to read along as she read, but in reality he just wanted to hold her. To feel her against him, to breathe her in.

She chose the next story titled "Everything That Rises Must Converge." The story was definitely not the right story to read while she was in this emotional condition. The story weighed heavily on her conscience. Though she was less of a hypocrite than the protagonist in the story, her mother was somewhat like the mother in the story. Although the story focused on racism, her mother could be just as prejudiced, though based on social standing instead. But that _was_ how they were raised. Even now they were raised to be like that.

However, what her mother said didn't stick in her head as much as what her father had taught her. To base a man on the basis of his character. She lived by that.

Sometimes she was scared that that this was what would happen to her mother. That she would die and Madge would be forced spend the rest of her life living in guilt and sorrow just like the protagonist. Guilt that she could never be the daughter that her mother wanted. That she probably wouldn't be married at 18. That was her mother's biggest fear, that she die before her daughter married. She wanted to ensure that Madge was with the right man before she was gone. Madge knew this. She knew the reason behind her mother's early wedding wishes for her, but she had been in denial before now. In denial that her mother was as sick as she actually was. Now she was guilty because she was falling in love with Gale, who would only thwart her mother's setups.

Gale could see the look of consternation on her face after she finished reading the story. The ending had been unsettling. "It just doesn't sit well."

She agreed. She craned her neck to look him in the eye. Maybe it was wrong, but she yearned for his lips on hers. The fact that she knew it would erase all the awful thoughts from her mind didn't help either.

It was him who kissed her this time. He needed to get the bad taste out of his mouth from that story. But more than that he wanted to kiss her again. Maybe it had just been a fluke, those other kisses. Maybe it was the crying that made her kiss with such fervor.

Madge moved her body so it was facing his, and he moved her so she was on his lap.

It wasn't a fluke. These kisses had the same passion, just different types of kisses. These were softer, but they affected him just the same.

Her body was so malleable in his hands. She molded exactly to his body. It drove him insane.

They walked the way to her house through the Hob where he traded with others, to his house where he dropped off game for his mother, to the Everdeen household where he also dropped off game and then finally to her house.

She walked him to the side of her house where she pushed him against it and proceeded to kiss him. He could get used to this, kissing Madge. Her mouth moved over his in urgency, she knew she only had a few more minutes before she would force herself inside the house where she would be forced to face her mother. She sprinkled kisses all over his jawline and neck. She kissed him once more on the lips before she stopped.

"Thank you for today."

He smiled at her, kissing her cheek. "Anytime."

She walked into the house, and before he had enough time to walk inside he heard a voice call his name, and the voice didn't belong to Madge. It belonged to her father.

"I see you're pretty taken with my daughter."

Gale nodded, unsure of his voice.

"I could take her being friends with Katniss. I knew my daughter isn't the best at making friends, and I liked her. I could even take Thom, because I see how happy it makes her to be learning a new instrument. She has so little happiness in her life, with her mother and all. So I bought her a guitar, and you should've seen how ecstatic she was. It brought me such joy. But you Mr. Hawthorne I will not stand for. You will not be seeing my daughter anymore."

Gale begins to protest, but is cut off.

"Do you understand how much she would be sacrificing to be with you?"

His eyes don't move away from the man in front of him, but he doesn't answer the question.

"Everything. Everything she knows would be changed. Gone. Your life would remain completely unchanged, though you'd have a beautiful merchant wife."

"I could give her other things," Gale growls. Mrs. Everdeen had married a man from the Seam and she didn't regret it. She didn't seem to miss the life she once had.

"Like what exactly? Heartbreak? I know about you and your "cousin." You think everyone can't see how in love with her you are? Maybe my daughter has simply ignored that fact, but I won't. I don't want to see you forget about her when she comes back. She could have something long-lasting with Connor. He has a promising future. I don't want you ruining it."

When Gale walks away he's furious. His hands are shaking at his sides and he can hardly see straight. That man.

Later in the night when he's laying in bed. Mr. Undersee's words resurface in his mind. How he's still has unresolved feelings for Katniss. He can't deny it, because it's true. For so long Gale lived his life with the knowledge that him and Katniss belonged together. He didn't know what he would do when Katniss came back, partially because he didn't know how Katniss felt. On the TV she was kissing Peeta, which he could admit didn't sit well with him, but he didn't know if that was real or just for show. But now there was Madge. Madge Undersee, taker of breaths. But could he ask her to leave everything she knew just for him? She deserved everything this world had to offer, and he would never be able to give that to her. At dinner a few nights ago his mother had mentioned Connor and Madge. How she was being courted by him, how he was kind and handsome. Gale had stopped the conversation before it ruined his appetite.

Gale couldn't stand the thought of Madge being with someone else, though now he was unsure if he could stand the idea of her being with him either.

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**I know for awhile "everything was beautiful and nothing hurt," but it's probably going to get a little angsty. I apologize! I just have to!**


	9. Heavy

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed! You don't know how it fills me with such happiness. I swear it makes me write quicker, so if you want a quick turn around you know what to do!**

**I own nothing except for sweet sweet Connor!**

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Chapter Nine

The decision he makes is with a heavy heart. Heavier than he ever thought was possible. So when he arrives at her house all he can do is stand outside just looking up towards the window he knows to belong to her bedroom. It's for the best, he reminds himself. The maid lets him in, and he walks up the stairs slowly dreading the moment that is inevitable. When he enters, he forgets to knock and she's there with her dress undone. The zipper down, exposing all of her back to him. The dress is sleeveless as well, which reveals her shoulders to his eyes as well. Her confidence astounds him, she turns her head to look at him. She doesn't seem to make much of how much of her bare skin is being shown to him.

"Zip me up, please?" He approaches her on unsteady feet. Her hair is pulled to the side, leaving more skin at his disposal.

He pauses. He can't even focus because his thoughts are too preoccupied with a sudden urgency to kiss her long graceful neck up to her ears. To kiss all of the skin available to him, but he holds himself back. He doesn't want to make this any worse than it already is. His hands are visibly shaking as they take hold of the zipper, slowly bringing it up making sure not to catch it in her skin, smooth and pale.

When she turns around and moves her face to give him a kiss on the lips, he evades her and her lips fall onto his cheek. When her eyes meet his he can actually hear his heart breaking. The usually brilliant blue of her eyes is blurred by the tears that are brimming her eyes, she knows what's coming next. He can tell by the way her eyes are boring into his that she's bracing herself for the words she knows are coming.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore." There he said it. Now he can leave before she actually starts crying. He wouldn't be able to see that. That would be too much.

He doesn't expect her to say the next words.

"What did I do?" She looks so small and delicate, cradling her arms.

"Nothing. We just can't do this," he runs his hand through his hair.

"But why?" She's making it worse for him. Why does she have to keep asking him questions?

"Goddamnit Madge! What did you think this was going to become? You want to fall in love with me, get married and end up in the goddamn Seam?" He's beyond being quiet at this point. The only way he's going to get the point across is if he yells. "You're not meant for that life!"

She grimaces. "You think I'm too soft? I don't care about any of this!" Her arms are wide motioning to the contents of her room.

"You think that now, but when we're just barely scraping by you'll resent me for taking you away from this."

By this time, she's too angry to be sad and cry. He knows about her home life now, about the ways her parents are both absent though in different ways. He knows that she basically raised herself. How she years for a family life more like his own. Why else would she spend so much of her time at his home? That's what she wants, not this, not ever this.

"And we can both be who we're meant to be with. You with Connor and me with Katniss, that's how it was meant to be." He's not even sure he actually believes half of what he's saying. Does he really even think him and Katniss are meant to be? But it was fate wasn't it? That brought them together as children in the woods after their fathers had passed away. So maybe they were meant to be.

Madge narrowed her eyes at him. "I was so stupid to think even for a second that I could ever compete with her!" She turned her back to him, too angry and embarrassed to have him look him in the eye. He didn't need to know that she had thought about this a lot, or that she compared herself to Katniss in the process.

"Someday you'll find someone who's going to love you the way you deserve." His words are falling short. This isn't how it was supposed to happen. His anger wasn't supposed to get the best of him, and she was _not_ under any circumstance supposed to fight for him.

"I think it'd be best if you leave." She strains her ears, but she thinks she makes out a whispered "I'm sorry" from Gale, but she's not so sure.

He pretends not to hear the crack in her voice or see the way her small fists are clutched at her sides so tightly her knuckles are white. No, he doesn't want to hear or see that because his heart can't take much more of this. But he doesn't realize that his heart will be tested in far worse ways in the future.

What Gale failed to recognize is that breaking it off with Madge would mean that he would eventually see her out and about with Connor. So when everyone has gathered in the square to see the Hunger Games' finale he's shocked to see Madge standing with Connor, hand in hand. Half of the time his eyes are in their direction, so he keeps missing important parts. He misses the struggle on top of the Cornicopia, but he does catch Madge clutching to Connor, hiding her face in his chest. He misses when Katniss grabs the berries out of her pocket and hands them to Peeta, but he does notice how Connor is rubbing Madge's back through her sweater. He even misses when they announce Peeta and Katniss as victors, but he couldn't take his eyes away from Madge throwing herself into Connor's arms and kissing him. All of it makes his stomach twist in a way that it has never before. Thom pats him on the back, knowingly.

It didn't take much for him to fall for her, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he did.

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**Sorry for the short chapter I just needed to get this one out of the way! **

**What do you think about skipping ahead in time? **


	10. Take Care

**I changed a few details, just because I can. **

**by the way, you're going to _hate_ me in two chapters. so prepare!**

**i own nothing!**

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Chapter Ten

It's been months since Madge last saw Gale. He still has her copy of _East of Eden_, but to be perfectly honest she doesn't want it back. It would just sit on her bookshelf taunting her. It's not as if she could ever read it again anyway. Maybe he just took it as a means to woo her, and never meant to actually read it in the first place. Not that it even matters anymore. Connor and her are officially a couple now, to her mother's delight. She likes to visit him while he works, watching him carve the wooden furniture with his signature look of concentration. It's soothing, usually she'll bring along her guitar and play as he works, or just bring him lunch and talk. She doesn't have to pretend to be anyone else than who she is with Connor, but it was like that with Gale too.

Gale is never really too from her mind, but now he's just been added to the list of things to block out throughout the day.

Her gaze falls to the window, but all she can see is white. It's been snowing so hard lately that they've cancelled classes. It's a good thing, considering the fact that most of the kids from the Seam don't even have suitable winter jackets.

She's mindlessly strumming. It wasn't very hard for her to catch on to the guitar, though it helped that she had the spare time to practice. She loved when Thom would come over for her lessons, after she had perfected the basics he no longer taught her much, unless the opportunity arose, but instead they would just play. Sometimes she played along on the piano. Many times she forced Thom to listen to some of her favorite songs on the radio so they could play them.

Thom liked when they sung together. It had taken so much for him to get her just to sing. Weeks and weeks of persistence. Finally he accidentally gets her to crack.

Madge adores duets to no end, especially between a male and female vocalist. Thom too has a special place in his heart for duets, but he's never known any female who was willing to sing with him. One day instead of playing one of the Capitol friendly tunes that they're incessantly playing, his fingers start playing a familiar folk song known very well in District Twelve. He knows Madge knows it. In fact, he's sure she mentioned it to him when they were dancing. When the first chorus starts he purposely sings the male's harmony, knowing that Madge will be unable to let the song go without its melody. After the first verse he's not so sure anymore that she's going to jump in, but when the chorus starts in he hears a soft voice emerge. His first instinct is to smile at her and encourage her, but he knows better. Instead, he pretends as if nothing has changed and continues harmonizing as if he didn't have a voice accompanying his. Her voice is soft, sweet and smooth. It's not a powerhouse, but she has intonation and it's clear, and to be perfectly honest her voice sounds perfect with his. Where Thom's voice emphasizes masculinity Madge's embraces everything feminine. It's the perfect voice for folk music. When the song ends, Madge's face has turned red and her ears are tinged pink. She hadn't meant for that to come out, but it just sounded so wrong without the melody! Since then Thom has gotten Madge more comfortable with singing aloud, especially with him. He even got her to sing with him in front of the band, who applauded her voice and courage. Though they would've applauded her just for standing there.

But when Thom doesn't arrive on time to their lesson, Madge begins to worry. It's in his best interest to show up seeing as her father had insisted on paying him for the lessons providing him and his family with a little extra income. He's half an hour late when he arrives and his face is hard, something she's never seen before. Even when Thom comes out of the mines, a smile and a joke aren't too far away.

"I'm sorry Madge for my tardiness; there was something going on in the square." He frowns and shakes the thoughts from his head. There's no way he would tell her.

"What was it?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself with, just don't worry about it." Lying doesn't sit well with him, especially not to Madge who he has grown so close to. Part of him is yearning to tell her the truth, after all, he's sure she will hear about it later, and wouldn't it be best to come from him? "It's Gale."

Suddenly, she's frantic. What about him? Something that could steal all of Thom's lightness must be something awful. "He was caught poaching, and he was punished in the square." With that she doesn't need anymore details because she's already put together the pieces. There's a whipping post in the square, one that is now coated in Gale's blood. Tears form in her eyes. Without a word to Thom she's running up the stairs beyond her own room and into her parent's. When she bursts into the room, her mother is staring at her wide-eyed. Her daughter didn't act like this, her daughter was calm and collected at all times.

"What's wrong, Margie?"

"There's been a whipping; it was one of my friends," her tears are uncontrollable by this point.

Her mother points to the drawer where the morphling is kept. "Take them." There's an urgency in her voice.

She grabs the box of vials and races down the hall into her own room, changing out of her skirt and blouse and into more winter appropriate clothing. She dresses hastily, putting on as many layers as she can think of. When she runs down the stairs, Thom is already gone. She trudges all the way to the Everdeen's assuming that because of Mrs. Everdeen's history in healing he would have been rushed to her side.

An apprehensive Katniss opens the door. "Use these for your friend." She thrusts the box into Katniss's hands. Katniss looks at her, suspicious and confused. "They're my mother's. She said I could take them. Use them,_ please_."The look on Katniss's face dissipates. She knows what she's thinking, at least she didn't steal them, because then she'd have the mayor knocking down her door.

Her eyes are purposely sticking to Katniss, if she sees Gale she won't be able to control her breakdown. It will be messy and awkward, and not what Gale needs right now. Gale needs the stability of his friends and family, not the unrequited love from a measly merchant.

Before Katniss can reply, Madge is running back into the storm. Haymitch stands, "Crazy girl, I better catch her, before her mother finds out I let her run home alone at a time like this."

He grabs his coat and runs out the door, hoping to catch her. In the distance, he sees a figure fighting to walk against the wind.

"Madge! C'mon let me walk with you." Her teeth are chattering. Haymitch puts his arm around her, not only to help her stay warm, but also to lead her through the storm.

Even though he knows it's none of his business he can't help but ask, "Why?" Why Gale?

"He needed them." She's concise, not wanting to expand.

But it's Haymitch so he presses the issue. "You'd risk your damn life for a boy like him? A goddamn ruffian?"

"He's not a ruffian," she mutters under her breath. It's none of his _goddamn_ business why she does anything. Just because he's practically related to her doesn't mean anything. In her mother's eyes he's practically a saint, but Madge can't get past the fact that he smells like such a sinner.

"What would you know? All he did was sell you strawberries right?" A smirk plays on his lips.

Madge rolled her eyes. How did her mother stand him? He visited her mother at least weekly, most of the time more. What they talk about, Madge has no idea, but he stays for hours, that she can attest to.

"He's going to be alright, right?" Her voice was small.

Haymitch eyes become serious. "Yes, but something like that changes you."

She nodded in understanding.

When they arrived outside of the Undersee household Madge invited Haymitch inside. After all, he had made sure she got home in one piece.

"No, I'm fine." He moved to leave, but Madge caught the sleeve of his jacket.

"Get inside. You haven't visited this week, and mom's been talking about Maysilee." Haymitch entered, despite his alcoholism, there's no one else who can help her mother stave off the nightmarish thoughts she has about her sister. For that Madge will always be indebted to him.

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**Reviews are always welcome!**


	11. Between the Lines

**Don't hate me yet!**

**I own nothing!**

**Thanks for all of the support, it really keeps me going!**

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Chapter Eleven

On the third day after the whipping Gale was finally able to leave the house. Since the wounds on his back were still fairly fresh and prone to opening and bleeding, he still had another few days off from the mines. So today he set out to thank everyone who had a hand in his recovery. Naturally, first on the list was the Everdeen household, which he was on the way to anyway because he needed to have his bandages changed. He had never been particularly fond of Mrs. Everdeen, all he's known of her is the Merchant woman who crumbled after the death of her husband and left her daughters to fend for themselves. It wasn't the easiest thing to overlook. Where his mother had been the picture of strength after his father's death, Mrs. Everdeen was left in pieces.

Mrs. Everdeen answered the door after the second knock and invited him inside.

"Where's Catnip?" He asked looking around the house for any sign of her.

"She went on a _walk_," the way she emphasized the word 'walk' told him it wasn't just a walk. She moved around the table and gestured for Gale to remove his shirt.

Mrs. Everdeen examined the dressings, removing them to examine the wounds.

The wounds were still extremely sensitive. His body still ached from them.

"Mrs. Everdeen? Can I ask you a question?" There was only one person in the district that could shed light on this particular subject. She nodded and he continued. "Did you ever regret leaving your life behind and marrying a coal miner? Did you ever wish you would've married Peeta's father instead?" He felt stupid asking her, because they had never been close, but she was the only person he could talk to about this, the only one who could truly understand the situation.

At first, he had thought that keeping his distance from Madge would have lessened the emptiness in his chest. Out of sight, out of mind, right? But that wasn't the case, no that wasn't the case at all. If anything distance had just made his heart grow fonder. Fonder indeed.

Mrs. Everdeen eyed him questioningly. "Not once. I loved Eustace with every fiber of my being and as you know when he passed I was broken, but I don't regret it one bit. I know everyone here thinks the merchants have it made, but we don't. I came from a loveless household with demanding, cold parents and Eustace was warmth personified. Everyone is poor Gale, just not in the same ways." He nodded taking in the information, where Madge's family was absent, but had more than enough money, his family life was rich, but were barely scraping by. "It wasn't a spark of rebellion that drew me to him either. It was this lightness that emanated from him and everything he did. Do you understand me?"

Gale nodded considering the weight of her words. Lord, did he know what she meant. There were traces of her everywhere he went. Every time he looked in the sky, his brain recalled those damn blue eyes. There were too many traces of her at his home. He never would have wanted Madge to separate herself from his family, but did her presence have to be so palpable? Whenever he looked at Posy there was Madge. In the ribbon in her hair and in her new wardrobe, that he knew no one other than Madge could have given her. When he looked at Rory there was Madge in his look of concentration as he sat down at the dinner table and did his homework. In Vick, he could see her in his constant source of smiles, which hadn't always been so common before Madge came along. Even in his own mother, there was Madge. Madge was someone she could confide in. Someone who would listen without judgment or pity. His entire family had had a newfound lightness, exactly like the one that Mrs. Everdeen spoke of. She was _everywhere,_ and yet it seemed as if he had barely caught a glimpse of her since then. A few times he had caught sight of her around. Sometimes Gale would see her walking with Thom and his bandmates. Once he even saw her leaving Peeta's, guitar in tow. He knew it was stupid to be jealous. Thom was just her friend and Peeta was head over heels in love with Katniss, but his heart wouldn't listen to logic. It wanted her, and nothing was a suitable substitute. The kiss with Katniss had left him with everything to be desired. She didn't have the warmth of Madge. She hadn't made his heart catch in his throat. She just wasn't her. However, there was another roadblock. The she in question was with another.

"Why do you want to know?" Mrs. Everdeen questioned curiously, but a lilt in her voice told him that she already knew why.

Gale stammered, "I-uh-nothing."

Mrs. Everdeen finished wrapping his back, "I say go for it," her hand lay gently on his shoulder.

"But Kat-"

"I wouldn't worry about Katniss."

"Anyone willing to brave a blizzard to donate morphling is worth fighting for, Gale."

Gale stared at her baffled. What was she talking about? And then it hit him. Madge had brought him her mother's morphling, so he wouldn't be in so much pain.

Madge awoke in an embrace and with the sun hitting her in bed. She groaned, the sun was hitting her right in the eyes.

"Hey," a voice whispered into her hair from beside her.

"Hey," she responded back, turning to her side to face him and get the sun out of her eyes.

Connor smiled at her, and pulled a strand of hair away from her face.

With that gesture her mind was flooded with reminders from yesterday. Connor had come over to have dinner with her parents when her mother's headaches got so bad that she was forced to retire to her bedroom, with her father in tow, leaving the couple at her dinner table eating in silence. Upon hearing her mother's groans and whimpers from the second floor, both had suddenly lost their appetites. She tried to block out the sounds, but she couldn't play the piano because it was too loud for her mother. As she walked Connor to the front door, she was suddenly overcome with emotion. Her mother's screams had gotten louder and Madge could almost feel the same pain.

Connor turned to give her a kiss goodbye as he buttoned up his coat, but he faltered seeing the streams falling down her face.

"Are you okay?" He asked grabbing her face in his hands.

She wouldn't be able to sleep with her mother's shouts of pain in her ear. That was always the hardest thing to block out. Hearing your mother dying in the room next to yours was hard to ignore. Impossible even.

Madge shook her head. She wasn't okay. How could she be? Girls her age were supposed to be discussing boys with their mothers, not their mother's impending death. At sixteen your biggest worry wasn't supposed to be that your mother won't get to see you walk down the aisle, or might not even get to see you become an adult. But those were her fears. So she asked Connor to stay with her. To help keep away some of her awful thoughts, or at least try. She knew that he wouldn't deny her of anything she asked. She knew he would stay, he would always stay with her.

Connor quietly followed Madge up the stairs and into her bedroom.

She'd never slept in the same bed with a boy before. The uneasiness in her stomach was easy enough to ignore. There was nothing to be nervous about, it was just sleeping.

His back was turned as she changed into her pajamas. His head didn't turning to catch a glimpse of her once. Always the perfect gentleman.

Connor removed his coat and shoes before getting into the bed beside her. As soon as her head hit the pillow, her tears began falling in steady streams.

"Maysilee! No!" Her mother screamed from the next room.

Her body shook with sobs. Connor kissed her on the forehead. At first she was afraid that perhaps Connor would attempt to kiss her tears away. That would remind her too much of Gale, which would have only made things worse. It was a never-ending, everyday struggle, trying to forget him. As soon as she felt she was finally over him, something came up that brought her back to reality. Denial wasn't getting over someone. Escapism wasn't a strategy for heartbreak. How can you block out the constant aching of your heart?

But Connor was so sweet, so understanding, and so non-judgmental. It didn't phase him that her two best friends were from the Seam, or that one of them was male. There wasn't a Seam-Merchant struggle between him and Thom. He treated Thom like he would treat anyone else, with the same kindness he showed everyone.

Maybe it wasn't so bad to be with someone you weren't in love with. Maybe it was okay because she loved him and he loved her, and they understood each other. Wasn't that what everyone wanted? To be loved and understood? Was it so wrong? One day, maybe not soon, she would forget about Gale. She had to right? All her memories of him would eventually blur, making them harder to decipher, and perhaps easier to neglect? That was probably just wishful thinking though.

"C'mon Katniss, don't you want to see Thom play?" Gale asked tugging on the sleeve of her coat. Katniss was absolutely no fun. It was a rare sight to see Katniss dance, but he thought he would ask anyway. It was still winter, though it was getting warmer everyday, so it wasn't as if they would be doing much dancing. The guys were playing in some abandoned building in the Seam. Usually he would never have gone to see them, just to play or practice, but the music reminded him of Madge, and anything that could make him feel closer to her was in his interest.

Katniss stared blankly at him and reluctantly agreed.

The band was sitting in rickety stools in the center of the abandoned building when they entered, a small crowd already forming. It was a Sunday, so most everyone had the day off, and because of the snow were most likely sick of being stuck almost didn't notice her because Johnny was blocking her from his view, but then she emerged from behind him with a smile on her face. She sat down on a stool between Thom and James. She was beaming.

The first song they played was an upbeat tune with a lot of banjo. Madge played along, smiling. She was really getting pretty good. But it wasn't just her skills that were forcing his attention to her, it was everything else. While playing she gained so much confidence it was astounding, but it wasn't until he heard Madge sing that he was truly taken aback.

Thom looked at her as if to ask, "are you ready?" to which she nodded.

She began strumming the guitar, smiling to the man at her right. Thom grinned back, and they began singing. Their voices melded together so beautifully. The shy girl he had fallen in love with was no where to be seen. In her place was a shining artist that Gale couldn't take his eyes off of.

"God, she's absolutely breathtaking up there," Katniss muttered to Gale.

Gale nodded, his eyes never leaving Madge's figure.

As soon as Gale thought the performance couldn't get any better it did. The blonde smiled at the band, and counted off for the next song to start. A sad ballad heavy with banjo. As soon as Madge began singing Gale was astounded with the amount of passion within it. Even though Gale knew that she hadn't seen him, he couldn't help but feel as if this song was for him. Every lyric seemed aimed at him.

_So babe spell it out, but you don't have to shout when you're talking to me. _

It brought his mind back to when he broke it off, the way he yelled, the way his temper flared, as it always did when he was sad and upset. Anger was just so much easier of an emotion to deal with than sadness.

_Don't lock your door. Everyone is poor **between** the lines. _

Gale had locked her out. Gale had made the decision for their relationship; he hadn't consulted her. And just like Mrs. Everdeen had said to him just because you had money didn't mean that you weren't poor in one aspect or another. Hearing it from her mouth made everything so much more real. There she was, the girl he wanted. The girl he needed.

_I want to live and I want you to live, happy and free. But I don't know how to separate the now from what used to be. _

It was obvious that she was trying to move on. She had a new beau. He knew Madge, she was the type who would live in misery as long as the ones around her were happy. If she thought he would be happy with Katniss she would sit in misery, congratulating them. As for the last part, he couldn't either. Although months and months had passed since they had last interacted, he could still feel her lips on his, her body pressed up against his.

_Will you sleep? Not a wink. Well neither will I._

__Her eyes finally met his.

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Song belongs to the Avett Brothers, not me!

it's "my last song to jenny"

so beautiful

Rate please!


	12. Inside of You

**Things are starting to pick up! Yay! Reviews are welcome and encouraged!**

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Chapter Twelve

Gale eyes followed her around the abandoned building. When they finished playing she lingered around the band, talking and laughing. God he loved the way she looked when she smiled. The way her head tilted back and her mouth opened letting out the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

Then Connor approached her with his arms open. Madge entered his arms, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. He was green with envy. This was _his_ part of town. He'd probably never even been to the Seam. Gale watched as he let go of Madge and shook hands with Thom, chit-chatting with him, both laughing. Traitor. Thom was _his_ friend. Where exactly were his loyalties?

Connor stayed behind with Thom as Madge made her way towards them, mainly toward Katniss. Her eyes stayed focus on Katniss, as if Gale wasn't even next to her. After all Katniss didn't know anything about them, their history. That they even had a history to begin with.

"Thanks for coming. I know this isn't really your thing." She gave Katniss a small smile. Her head turned to face Gale. "I'm sure Thom is happy to see you here too."

So that's how this was going to play out. They were nothing to each other in front of Katniss, and most everyone else. Gale's sure his face showed how hurt he felt, because for a flash of a second he thought he saw the same pain reflected in her eyes.

Her tone changed. "We're all happy to see you around." It was the tone he loved. The sweet, kind tone she always spoke in, and he relished that for the first time in a long time it was aimed toward him.

But as soon as she was there, she was gone, and all she left was darkness in her wake.

Madge made her way back to Connor whose face lit up in her presence. Probably the same way he assumed his did as well. It was impossible to hate him. How could he blame him for wanting exactly what he wanted? A beautiful, intelligent, and kind woman. A woman who even from a distance could rock Gale to his core?

It worked in movies, why couldn't it work in real life?

He needed to know why. Why had she walked in a blizzard to give him morphling? After all he had done, after all he had said to her?

The pebbles in his hand were being thrown at her bedroom window. God it was freezing out here. He hoped she would wake up soon enough before he didn't have fingers to throw with.

And then he saw the figure in the window, the one he had been waiting for. After a few moments she appeared from a door on the side of the house. The same door that her father had appeared from on that day. The day they had shared their secrets, which was also the same day her father crushed his very spirits.

"What are you doing out here?" She whispered harshly stepping into the cold wind. Her hair was in a braid, messy from sleep. The winter coat she was wearing wasn't long enough to cover her floor-length nightgown.

Words were escaping him. The fact that this ethereal creature was standing in front of him after so long of being apart was shocking to his system.

"Gale?" She asked more tenderly, touching his arm lightly. He must have looked frozen because before he realized he was being ushered into the side door, which led to a laundry room. "Now spill."

"Why?" With her proximity to him he could barely speak, she was within arms reach. It was a miracle he had the ability to just say that. If he just extended his arms he could have her in an embrace. He could almost feel her body against his.

She removed her winter coat, now only wearing her nightgown and a sweater. She was so beautiful it hurt him. "What are you talking about?" Her eyes looked toward the ground as if she knew what his question was, but she just didn't want to answer.

"Why did you bring me the morphling?" He reached out to tilt her head up. It was a total necessity that he see those eyes.

Seeing that she couldn't move her head back down to face the ground, instead she looked away from his gaze and to the side. "Your family needs you."

But he wasn't buying that. She could've had it sent over with Thom, who had confessed to being the one who told her about the incident. _She_ was the one who personally ran them out to him. He told her just that.

"What do you want me to say Gale? Tell me what you're expecting out of this." Her arms moved to wrap the sweater tightly around her torso protectively.

He looked her in the eyes. "Tell me you've felt the same way as me since we've been apart. That it's ripping you apart. That you feel the same gnawing feeling every goddamn time you see something that reminds you of me."

Madge stayed silent, staring into his piercing grey eyes. It was like he could read her mind, as if he already knew the answer. That he just wanted to be reassured.

"Forgive me, Madge. _Please. _I'm so sorry."

When her face softened, Gale felt as if his heart is soaring. Finally, he was making some leeway. That was said prematurely because the look she gave him afterwards was utterly heartbreaking. Her small face cringes. "You _broke _my heart Gale!"

Gale froze at the tone in her voice.

"You made your choice and you made mine for me too, Gale. So forgive me for sticking to your stupid fucking plan." The swear he's used hundreds of times seemed so much more harsh coming out of her small delicate mouth. She was standing in front of him now, poking him harshly in the chest.

His eyebrows furrow. "I don't get you, Madge. I wish I could see inside of you. You didn't like my plan, Madge? I don't see you fighting against it. It was the same fucking plan as your parents. Your father's the one who gave it to me after all. Obviously you want to live the life your parents have planned out for you." Her face is in a grimace as she forced herself to look above at the towering figure in front of her.

"No! You were so quick to give it all up. You didn't even _try._ I heard it Gale. I heard what he said to you." Her eyes have begun to water at the memory. "My father doesn't know a thing about me. He's never home. But apparently he was right about you and your _cousin._ So if anyone has the right to be mad it's me.I'm _never_ going to be inside of you. Not like she is. So forgive me for trying to move on to someone who can give me all of themselves."

He stared at her blankly.

"This will never work Gale." He looked at her pained. This must be how it felt for her. Her voice dropped to a smaller whisper. "I want it all, Gale. I want every part of you. But I can't get inside of you, not with her there and I refuse to share you."

Gale moves forward grabbing her hands in his. "You said want." She nodded, looking at him questioningly. "As in present tense."

Her head started shaking profusely. "It's not that easy. I'm spoken for."

The mere mention of Connor causes Gale's heart to wrench.

He moved her hands to place them on his chest. "You want it all, Madge? You already have it. All of it. You want something else? Consider it yours."

But she moved to protest. "But Connor."

"Madge?"

"What?"

Gale moved his face closer to hers, his lips barely grazing her earlobe, a shiver going down her spine.

"Does he make you feel the way I make you feel?" His lips brushed against her ear again. "Because she didn't make me feel the way you do."

"Gale, stop. Don't tempt me."

"If you were truly taken for you wouldn't feel so tempted, Margaret."

A sigh escapes her lips. She wishes it wasn't so true. If there weren't so many other people who would be hurt by it, her lips would have crashed against his the moment he appeared at her window. Gale, with a simple whisper can make her heart beat out her chest.

His lips pressed onto her shoulder. Another shiver. And then trailed up her neck onto her cheek.

"I can wait. I've got time," and with that he was out the door, leaving Madge to crumble onto the floor, completely and utterly confused.

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**All the love is appreciated! **


	13. Lifeline

**Sorry for taking so long! Or at least it felt long to me! I started reading Infernal Devices series and I've been too heartbroken to write. **

**Thank you for the love!**

**Reviews are welcome**

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Chapter 13

"Miss Madge!" A familiar girl was tugging on the skirt of her dress, begging for her attention.

"Miss Posy!" Madge lifted the girl in her arms. She was dressed nicely for the Capitol's announcement of the Quarter Quell. Both girls were grinning at each other.

"Who are you?" Posy asked the man standing closely to Madge. His dark blonde hair shone in the light as he grinned at her, and Posy couldn't help but think he had a really pretty smile.

He shook his head laughing at her bluntness. "I'm Connor, Miss Madge's fiancée."

It didn't really sit well with her. The idea of having Connor as her fiancée, and telling Posy of all people. They'd only just confirmed it yesterday, and yes she was wearing his ring, but it didn't seem right to be telling everyone. Especially not Posy, who was so close to _him_. He, who months before had appeared just outside of her window, with earnest eyes and heart-wrenching words.

Posy eyed him suspiciously. "Are you a prince?"

Connor looked taken aback by the question. "Well, no."

"Miss Madge is a princess and she needs to marry a prince!"

"Posy!" Madge gasped. She had never seen Posy be anything less than charming with anyone but her brothers.

Gale approached warily. He had heard everything. Madge was getting married. He felt like he was punched in the stomach. Posy had told him that she just wanted to invite Madge to her birthday gathering, not to insult her boyfriend. She was going to think he had instructed her to be rude to him, which wouldn't have been such a bad idea.

"Sorry, she's missing her nap for this." Gale moved to grab Posy out of Madge's arms.

"It's fine," Connor said laughing. "Miss Madge does deserve a prince."

Madge touched his shoulder gently.

"Will you come to my birthday party?" Posy asked smiling innocently as if she hadn't just insulted Connor.

"Of course, Pose."

"You can come too, Mr." Connor laughed graciously.

"Thank you Posy."

Gale walked away from them quickly before he would say something he regretted to Madge in front of her fiancée, like how beautiful she looked in her blue dress, or that she should consider that he was the prince Posy was referring to. Sometimes it flickered in his mind that if worse came to worse cause a wedge between the couple, to free Madge's heart. But that wouldn't do. Madge needed to make the decision for herself. She had to choose him. Though the possibility of that seemed to be decreasing every day. Now she was engaged.

They were going back. After all they had gone through to get out of the games, the Capitol was just sending them straight back. There wasn't going to be a wedding after all. Well at least not for Katniss and Peeta. It was absolutely dreadful. The meadow was the perfect place to go. No one would be there after the announcement. Gale would be with Katniss. Upon hearing the news, all she wanted to do was be alone. Alone in the meadow with her guitar. That's all she wanted. No one to ask her how she was feeling. She could just be. Finally take off the mask and just be.

Gale stared into the meadow. Everything was going to hell. But he knew better than to not have already expected it. They were picking from their existing pool of victors. The words echoed in his mind. Peeta and Katniss would always belong to the Capitol. You could never go back to the life you once had after. And especially after that nightlock fiasco? There was no way they were going to let them get away with that. They'd been so naive. But it wasn't just that. Of course not. When it rains it pours.

As a hunter his ears had become attuned to the sounds of footsteps.

A soft humming came from the direction of the footsteps. It was her. She was actually here. God, this was going to be absolutely pathetic.

"I guess that congratulations in order." His voice carried through the meadow.

She turned her head in shock; she was expecting to be alone. He was supposed to be with _her._

"You say that to the groom. It's customary to say 'best wishes' to the bride-to-be."

Always with the wit. God, he loved it. "Regardless, cheers darling! Here's to you and whatshisface," Gale rose the bottle in her direction before taking a swig of the white liquor bottle in his hand.

"His name is Connor," she announced through clenched teeth.

"Don't say his name in my presence."

"Connor. Connor. Connor." Madge's hands were now on her hips in defiance. He had no right to treat Connor like that.

Gale shot up from his place on the ground and stormed toward her. In reflex, she backed up until she was against a tree.

"Don't say his name, please." The pain in his voice was evident. "I die a little every time you say it."

She nodded slowly.

His eyes are glued to hers, gauging her reaction to each and every one of his words.

"I should've kissed you when we were alone," the back of his hand grazed her cheek. She didn't mention the fact that they were alone now. "In that laundry room when I was whispering in your ear." When he removed his hand, her small hand reached up to replace it. That's when he sees it, the ring. The engagement ring. A ring he could never afford to give her, with an emerald stone. How fitting because he was certainly green with envy. A growl escaped his throat at the sight of it, and he returned back to his place on the floor and to his bottle, where he belonged. He stares up at her to see her looking at him curiously. She's changed her hair. It's parted down the center now, and her hair's grown out more, so beautiful.

Her hands go to her back to remove the guitar strapped to it and she places it on the ground next to her. Walking toward him she sits across from him.

"Can we pretend like I'm not getting married?" He's bewildered, and makes no effort to hide it. "And just enjoy each other's company? Maybe lean on each other for a little comfort?" The way she's constantly looking away and biting her nails, tells him that she was nervous.

"Fine." Having her any way was better than not having her at all, right?

"Alright then, let's drink!" She grabbed the bottle from his hand and took a swig.

Gale chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Why aren't you with Katniss?" Madge asked running her finger around the rim of the bottle.

His eyebrows furrowed. "She's on a bender with Haymitch."

"And you're on a bender with me." In an attempt to lighten the mood, she grins at him.

But he continues eyeing her warily. "Play for me," he demands more than asks. "Before you get too drunk to."

Although, she's already played in front of him and has played in front of plenty of people she's incredibly nervous.

"You play for everyone. Just play for _me_ this once."

The look in his eyes refuses to be denied. It's as if she has no other choice than to go along with his request. Moving back toward the guitar case, she returned to him guitar in tow.

"Any requests?"

He tilts his head to the side in consternation. "Actually, 'Under a Honeymoon'"

It's almost as if she can feel his eyes boring into her soul while she plays, his eyes trained on her face. It takes everything to not stare back. Challenge him back.

"_We decide to hold nothing back. We'll act how we want to act."_

As the words fall from her mouth her eyes meet his. She should have protested against this song.

_"We want what we're not and we don't want to stop 'cause it feels right- or at least it's feeling good. At least it feels good."_

When the song finishes she gets up quickly to put away the instrument. Anything to get away from him. A blush is forming from her chest to her cheeks.

"Where were we?"

"What am I?" His eyes of steel are insistent, needing the answer.

"Excuse me?" Why couldn't they just pretend nothing had ever happened? It was so hard to not just climb in his lap and kiss away his pain. A struggle was raging inside of her. Why not just do what she wanted? She _never_ did what she wanted. But there was Connor, whose goodness was weighing heavily on her heart. But then there was Gale who was sitting in front of her looking as if she had just shown him his heart after stomping on it.

"What am I to you? Honestly Madge. I'm not alone in my feelings, right?" She says nothing, her face frozen. "I can't be alone in these feelings!" The volume of his voice raises, shocking her. His hands are holding her face, rubbing his thumb along her jaw. "I won't judge you. I could never judge you. Just tell me."

With her bottom lip between her teeth, she almost regrets coming here because her face is still in his rough calloused hands, and her face is a mere inches away from his.

His eyes are so desperate, searching for any proof that she still feels the same about him. If only he knew. Of course she does.

But she can't will herself to reply; that'd be so inappropriate and she shouldn't be encouraging his advances. Eventually, she'd break. God how she wanted to break. To hear his whispers in her ear. Feel his hot breath against her skin. To feel his lips on hers again. His bottom lip between hers. His body pressed against hers. Her small hands on the hard muscles of his chest and stomach. The rapid heartbeats.

"Gale."

A sigh of defeat escaped his lips. "Fine," his head tipped back as he swallowed the white liquor. "I need a favor from you."

"What?" She was glad to get off of this topic that she dreaded so much. Swallowing emotions wasn't as easy as it seemed.

"Posy's present. I know you sometimes make some of your dresses, right?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"If I pay you for the materials for a dress, will you make it?" His eyes were pleading.

"Of course. Anything for Posy."

He was satisfied with her response, but he had wished she would have responded with "anything for you" instead. Speaking of Posy always lightened the mood. A mood that Gale himself had dragged into the dirt after repeatedly asked too much of her. But when she was in his presence, his better judgment went out the window. Fidelity to her fiancée be damned. There was only him and her. There would only ever be her and him. She was everything.

Naturally the conversation leads to the Quarter Quell. Where their friends will fight to the death among other victors.

"Do you think the odds are in their favor?" Madge asks laying her head down into the grass. The alcohol has long since gone to her head, she feels dizzy, and everything seems to be blurring together.

Gale looks at her from beside her, he's laying down on his stomach. Sometimes she forgets about the whipping, though she figures it's probably just her attempt at blocking it out. "No." He's so succinct it surprises Madge. "They're going to die."

Madge can see the pain in his eyes. He's dealt with this before, so has she. Like someone slashing open a healing wound. Dark has fallen over the meadow, and with increasing difficult she tries to make out the details in his face. The way his hair falls into his eyes. He still needs that haircut, but she likes it this way. His facial hair has grown out, and she likes that too. Though Gale looks older, as if the past year has aged him. But still, he's the most handsome man she's ever met. The dark lashes that protect his eyes are seemingly growing heavier by the minute as are hers. Her hand reaches out to grab his. She laces her fingers with his and gives his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Some way," she yawns. "Some how they're going to get out. I just know it." Before she realizes it they've both fallen asleep. Her with her body facing his, and him on his stomach, connected by their laced fingers. A lifeline of sorts.

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**Yay for Posy! I know you guys have been missing her as have I!  
**


	14. Surprise, Surprise

**Quick turn around for the next chapter. Sorry it's so short! Thanks for the support! Reviews are always welcomed!**

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Chapter Fourteen

When she awoke her hand was still interlocked with Gale's, who lay asleep next to her. Hair sticking to his forehead, eyes closed, and small smile playing on his lips. She hadn't gone home last night. Certainly, they would have noticed by now. But maybe because of the announcement they would understand, after all Katniss was her friend. The moment her hand left his, his eyes opened.

"You're awake." He was obviously slow to wake because with such a simple statement as that one she could tell his mind was definitely out of sorts.

Her look must have indicated that to him, because he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, as innocently as a child. His eyes, still filled with sleep, gazed at her. "I'm awake."

"I'll walk you home," he reached over to carry her guitar for her.

Hastily, she grabbed the guitar from his hands, ignoring the flash of pain on his face. "That won't be necessary. Just bring me the money for the fabric, for Posy."

"Madge–." Gale grabbed her arm before she was able to get out his reach.

She cut him off before he could start his sentence. "I'm engaged, Gale. If someone saw us together they would assume something. I don't want to give Connor anything to be suspicious about. Especially when it's unwarranted."

"Like that you slept in the meadow with another man?"

She stopped in her tracks, turning away from him. "Yes, exactly something like that." Within a few moments she was gone, leaving behind a shocked and fuming Gale in her dust.

It wasn't one minute that she had entered her room to change that her mother called out for her. She was going to get a lecture about the company she kept. About how hard it was to uphold a good reputation for oneself, and so very easy it was to tear it all down. Today was not the day.

"Margie darling," her mother said smiling sadly. She was sitting up in her bed, the covers drawn up. The shades were drawn. "Would you please open the shades."

Madge moved towards the window, opening the shades as her mother had instructed.

"I have something to talk to you about." The frail woman patted the side of the bed next to her.

"Yes, Mother?" She sat down at the edge of the bed. Knots were forming in her stomach. If only her mother realized how much she despised getting lectured, maybe then she wouldn't be so keen on doing it so often.

"Where were you last night?"

Madge swallowed nervously. "I was with Katniss, her fami–"

Her mother interrupted her before she could continue her with her lie. "You were not. I can tell that you are lying, Margaret. A mother always knows."

"Well I went to the meadow to think, and I must have lost track of time and fell asleep." It wasn't a complete lie. That was her reasoning behind going there, and she had lost track of time and fallen asleep. Though she avoided the most important part, that she hadn't been alone. That Gale had accompanied her and that they had been drinking. She, a soon to be married woman was gallivanting around with another man, taking part in underage drinking. Admitting to how she yearned to kiss him was also definitely out of the question.

"You were with Gale Hawthorne, weren't you?" The tone of her voice was neither accusing or attempting to guilt her. It was completely neutral.

She couldn't look her mother in the eye. The same woman who had set her up with the fiancée she was disregarding.

"I see. Do you love him?"

Her eyes widened in shock and she stared at her mother. Did she love him? "I can't say that I love him. I can say that I was falling for him before Father intervened. I can say that he makes me feel more than Connor, despite myself.

She nodded as if she was digesting the information her daughter had just given her.

"Then why did you agree to marry Connor?"

Well that was the million dollar question, wasn't it? The question she could hardly answer for herself. "He won't ever love me the way he loves her. I can't stand the idea of breaking Connor's heart. He's so good, Momma. I can't stand the idea of disappointing you or Father. I'd rather all of you be happy then me. Your happiness matters the most to me."

Her mother's eyes softened. "Margaret. Your happiness means the world to me. You are everything to me." She grabbed her daughter's hands in hers. "As for Mr. Hawthorne, I don't know many boys who would come in the middle of the night to confess their unwavering devotion to a girl they do not love."

It seemed as if every sentence her mother spoke caused Madge shock. Her mother wasn't as oblivious as she had previously and foolishly thought.

"Let me recount a story for you. When Haymitch Abernathy returned home from the Hunger Games, he was sixteen, and I was fifteen. Not a moment after he arrived did I find him on my doorstep. He was dressed sharply, in clothes from the Capitol. I couldn't help but notice just how handsome he was with his dark hair that was perpetually falling into his eyes. Oh, those eyes, those storm cloud eyes. He apologized profusely for not being able to save Maysilee. The mere mention of her caused me great heartbreak. He felt incredibly guilty for what had transpired in the arena, how they had separated. I never blamed him. It wasn't as if they could both win then. After that encounter, he came to my house plenty of times. We sat and talked. He was a lot gentler back then, or at least he was with me. His company was a great comfort to me, and I found myself falling in love with him. I told him, but he refused me. He spoke in hushed and hurried whispers about how the Capitol had done away with his family and he couldn't bear to lose me in the same way. He returned my affections, but couldn't be with me. And so with a heavy heart I married your father."

"Do you ever regret it?" Madge found herself asking in a small voice.

"Oh of course not. I have you, Margie." She squeezed her daughter's hand. "And I grew to love your father, but never in the same way as I loved Haymitch. As I still love him. I am as giddy as a school girl every time he visits. You see, he still is as gentle with me now as he was then."

Madge looked at her mother warily. Was she cheating on her father with Haymitch Abernathy?

"Oh no! He just sits with me. Sometimes we play cards, but mostly we just talk. It's so incredibly fulfilling to be in the presence of the one you adore, Madge. But I'm sure I don't have to tell _you_ that."

She nodded at her mother. This was a lot to take in. You always assume that your parents are soul mates. The perfect examples of what love is supposed to look like.

"Madge you can't give up Gale. I won't let you. Your father will love you no matter what, as will I. You have the chance Madge, the chance to be with the one you love. The chance I never got. I need to know you are happy before I go."

She grabbed her mother's hand. "Mother, don't talk like that!"

Her mother only smiled at her, lovingly. "I will be leaving this world soon, Madge. I know it. But I know what it's like to love and to be loved. My only hope in this world is that you too become as acquainted with that same knowledge as I have." She kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Just consider it, for my sake."

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**I can't wait for Posy's party!**


	15. Dance with Me

**Sorry I took so long updating. I've been working a lot, and have been having some bad writer's block. But I'm back now! Review!**

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Chapter Fifteen

Posy was turning four and was obsessed with mythology, though some of it was watered down for her young ears. Her favorite beings were nymphs. The beautiful creatures who loved to dance and sing. So when she asked Madge to dress up with her, Madge was on board. How could she have said no to a little girl, to Posy of all little girls, and on her birthday of all days?

So even though she felt a little silly walking from the Town to the Seam in a white flowing floor length dress and a crown of flowers, it was worth it to see the look on Posy's face when she opened the door. She had arrived early to help Posy with her costume. _Everyone_ was supposed to dress up too, as their favorite characters from mythological tales, but Madge had warned Posy not to get her hopes up too high. She just couldn't imagine Katniss dressing up for a child's party.

"You look like an angel!" The small girl gasped, eyes open wide.

Madge laughed.

"You really do!" Vick added shocked.

Hazelle approached the door with a smile on her face. "Oh Madge! You look adorable!"

She thanked them all, blushing slightly. She thought she looked foolish.

"C'mon, Posy, let's get you ready."

"Who exactly are you supposed to be?" Rory asked, eyebrows furrowed, at Thom who was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

Thom's hand disappeared into his pocket where he retrieved a lighter. "Prometheus."

Rory rolled his eyes, chuckling, whose outfit wasn't much better he had just attached paper wings to his shoes, making him none other than Hermes.

Gale emerged from his bedroom, searching for Madge. She was in the kitchen talking with his mother. Vick was right, she did look like an angel. Her blonde hair was down and around her waist in waves, and Gale couldn't help but smile at her crown of flowers.

"Who are you, Mom?" He asked leaning against the kitchen wall interrupting their conversation.

Hazelle turned to him, "Hestia! I mean I am cooking so it should be obvious." Like him, she had only quickly fashioned a toga out of a sheet. His mother, knowing better, moved out of the kitchen to leave the couple to talk. Hazelle loved Madge as a part of her own family. She was a beautiful, kind, intelligent woman. Sometimes she couldn't help but feel sorry for her son. Gale wasn't one to let his feelings show, but Hazelle could see through him. Though Madge made it a point not to visit when Gale was out of work, whenever they did happen to see other in passing, Hazelle could see the way her son's eyes followed her. It took a trained eye to notice, but a mother always knows. She recalled how painful it had been for him to see Madge with Connor on the day Katniss and Peeta won the games. He had hardly looked at the screen that day. He didn't tell her the full story, only bits and pieces. About how her father didn't approve, about not wanting her to live in the Seam, but not about the one thing that she was certain he was leaving out, Katniss. Friendship and common social standing did not necessarily automatically mean love between two people, but Gale was young.

He chuckled turning to the beautiful woman on his left. "And you?" His eyes raked down her figure. God, he just wanted to kiss her, and Connor was no where in sight. But he would have to settle for just being in her presence, which was better than nothing.

"Eurydice." She pulled up the edge of her dress revealing a rubber snake attached to her ankle.

"Clever," Gale admitted laughing. He wanted to keep her here with him for as long as he could, so he made an attempt at small talk. "Uhm... Did you finish the dress?"

Madge awkwardly looked around. Why was he forcing idle chit chat? Though part of her appreciated it. It helped keep her mind off of him, though that was hard. Ever since Madge's mother had gave them her blessing it was difficult not to throw herself at him. But she always refrained. There was still one person, someone who she cared about deeply, who was standing between them. Connor who had started off as one of her mother's long list of suitors for her, but who had become so much more. He had become one of her best friends. Someone who she could confide in, which wasn't very common for Madge. But she had to break it to him; it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for him to marry a woman whose heart would never truly be his. Part of her would always be Gale's, no matter how hard she tried. He was the first person who she let see inside of her. The only person to evoke such passion from her. So she had to break it off with Connor. She had delayed it, taking her time to figure out whether or not it was possible to break up with someone without breaking their heart. Or at least break their heart in a way that made it easily repairable, was there such a way? After days of racking her brain, she reached the conclusion that no there was not such a way. He would always get hurt, one way or the other.

"Yes, she'll love anything that you gave her." Gale grinned crookedly. He looked so handsome in his black toga. "Who are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Hades, of course." Other than the dark appearance his costume gave no indication that he was in fact anyone than himself in a black toga. They looked to be so opposite in dress. Madge with her white, angelic gown, fair hair and skin and Gale in his dark toga, with his tanned skin and black hair. As he exited the room, he stopped to whisper, "I would've pegged you more as a Persephone with your crown of flowers."

She cackled. "Why? So you could steal me away?"

He smirked, "Don't mind if I do." Gale grabbed her hand, guiding her to the living room, which had become a makeshift dance floor. He took a reluctant Madge into his arms. "C'mon, it's just dancing. Everyone's doing it!" He turned motioning to the couples dancing, Rory with Prim, Vick with Posy, Thom with Hazelle, and even Katniss was dancing with Peeta. Everyone looked happy dancing to the small radio. But before she could answer Gale was already spinning her. When he stopped, Madge looked around at the costumed guests. Vick too looked adorable in his blue toga. He was supposed to be Poseidon, so he carried around a fork as a , whose toga had a painted lightening bolt on the back, she assumed was Zeus. Katniss, despite not actually dressing up, still looked like a modern Artemis.

Madge laughed, but stopped when she saw a wary Katniss looking in their direction.

Gale followed her line of sight. "She knows."

"What?" Madge demanded.

"Loosen up, Madge, it's no big deal. I needed to rant, so I told her." Madge felt mortified, not because it was Gale, because someone other than her mother and Gale knew she had feelings for someone who wasn't her fiancée. Gale ran his hand down the side of her cheek. "She won't tell anyone, don't worry. Katniss isn't one for gossip anyway."

She nodded, too caught up in the way his body was so close to hers. So close that she could feel the heat that radiated off of his body. Their hands were clasped, her small delicate fingers intertwined with his massive calloused ones. Her other arm was on his bare shoulder. He was so muscular. Every line and muscle underneath his skin was emphasized. Maybe one day in the future she could make a day of tracing them. She couldn't help but love the feeling of them. Gale was beaming the entire dance. Happy to have her back in his arms, even if it was only temporary. Hoping in vain that one day it would be permanent. How could she want to marry someone that she wasn't completely in love with? Or maybe she was. But she couldn't because her heart was beating just as hard as his, he could feel it in her wrist. He could wait. He would wait years, as long as it meant that the light at the end of the tunnel was Madge.

They had been too caught up in each other that they hadn't even noticed the looming figure a few feet away from them. The figure cleared its throat. Madge's head shot to the side, making eye contact with him. She reluctantly backed away from Gale and approached Connor.

"You never mentioned Posy had a third older brother," Connor stated sharply, his eyes cold and distant.

Madge was taken aback. Connor never spoke to her without the warmth she had grown accustomed to. "He works in the mines, so I rarely see him."

Connor seemed momentarily appeased by the answer, and moved to take Madge in his arms. "I missed you," he murmured into her skin as he kissed her cheek.

_This_ was the Connor Madge knew. "Who are you supposed to be?"

He grinned pointing to a hammer attached to his pants. "Hephaestus," he moved back towards the living room dance floor, taking her in his arms to sway to the music. They had only danced a few dances when Madge felt a tug on her skirt. She looked down to see a grinning Posy.

"Hi Posy! Happy birthday!" Connor exclaimed happily.

Posy smiled, thanking him. "Can we switch dance partners? Rory keeps stepping on my toes." She pointed over to a grumpy Rory.

"I didn't step on Prim's toes once!" He yelled in his defense.

Connor smiled, "I'd be happy to dance with the birthday girl."

The blonde walked over to Rory, who despite being younger than her, was actually a lot taller than her already. He was growing so quickly, maybe he would even beat out Gale. "Rory, I'm sure you're a lovely dancer." The younger boy smiled. They hadn't danced but two songs when Prim approached them.

"Madge can we switch, Thom keeps almost dropping me when he attempts dipping." Madge nodded, switching partners again. Two dances again, Katniss approached her this time, Peeta's hands were too sweaty. So she switched and noticed that Peeta's hands could barely be even considered sweaty, but shrugged it off. Two dances later, Hazelle complained that none other than Gale was spinning her too much. She agreed, but approached Gale warily, one eyebrow quirked up towards her forehead. Something was going on.

Gale shrugged innocently, taking the much smaller girl into his arms. "I just wanted one more dance," he whispered.

"You're going to get me in trouble."

Another innocent look. "For what?"

"A handsome man, wearing only a sheet, dancing with me, an engaged woman."

"You think I'm handsome?"

She rolled her eyes. The music stopped, to Madge's relief. "Present time!" Posy exclaimed. The boys rearranged the furniture in the living room, and everyone was gathered at the kitchen table, around a very excited Posy. She picked up a box at random. It was from Katniss and Prim, cheese from Lady. Posy was delighted. Peeta's delicate box revealed a cake, decorated with flowers, a pantheon atop Mount Olympus. Posy squealed happily. Rory and Vick had gotten, by doing some "chores" around Madge's house, a box of ribbons for Posy. Thom played her a song. Hazelle had cooked her some of her favorites, and then came herself and Connor's gift. Posy opened the bag to see a new rag doll, one who they had gotten made to look especially like Posy. Dark hair, tanned skin and grey shining eyes. Gale's gift was last, but certainly not least. Posy was looking forward to the gift her oldest brother was hiding behind his back.

He placed the box onto the table. "This is from me and Miss Madge," his eyes quickly flashed to hers.

Madge's heart stopped. Yes, he had said that right in front of Connor, who was giving her a strange look.

It was a matching dress to the doll's. At first, Madge had thought that it would be such a cute idea to have, what was previously known as _solely _Gale's gift match the dress her and Connor's doll was wearing, but not it didn't seem like such a good idea. _I rarely see him_, she had said. Well now it appeared as if they had planned the entire thing out between themselves, behind the back of her fiancée.

But Connor would not storm out, no matter how much he wanted to. Connor was raised not to ruin social gatherings with dramatics. So he stood beside Madge, though he had long since dropped her hand. He felt like a fool. How could he have been so stupid?

Connor had barely said a word to anyone the rest of the night. He had grumbled short sentences to Madge, but that was it.

The walk with Peeta and Katniss, back towards Town was silent. The only conversation was a few words shared between Peeta and Madge. As Victor's Village came into view, the two couples parted.

"What's wrong?" Madge asked, knowing full well what was wrong. "I just sewed the dress, he paid me."

He turned to her, they were now in front of her house. "Everything makes sense now!"

"What are you talking about?" This wasn't supposed to be how it ended. She was supposed to have control of it. Control over how she would be perceived, he wouldn't hate her at the end of it. That was the last thing she had wanted.

"You were so reluctant to be with me in the beginning, and then randomly everything clicked. He left you, that's it right? And now he wants you back. I've gotta be close. It was a few months ago right? Because that's when you stopped coming around as much. And on the day of the Quarter Quell announcement, I went over to your house to see how you were, I know how close you are with Katniss and Peeta, so I stupidly assumed you needed me, your mom made some excuse saying you were with Katniss. I thought, yeah that seems like a legitimate answer, but I overheard Peeta complaining to his father about Katniss drinking with Haymitch that night. But I was so dumb, I assumed oh that must have been after Madge was with her. But it wasn't, was it? You were with him, right?" Madge watches him silently, fighting the urge to cry. It was all true. "Tell me I'm right, Madge!" He screams, shocking her. But Madge is still, a tear falls from her eye. Connor's face contorts. "No, you don't get to cry! You made a fool out of me! Even your mother was in on it! You can have everything you want now! I'm not in your way!"

"That's enough!" A voice yells emerging from the shadows, Gale.

"Oh now everyone's here! Is this like your rendezvous point? Was this all planned? Am I getting in the way?"

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this, but it did, and yelling at Madge won't change it."

He storms toward Gale, "You don't get to talk. This is between me and my fiancée." Gale cringes at the word.

"That may be true, but I'm not going to let you talk to her like that."

Connor looks over at Madge, "Oh my God! He really does love you! I thought that maybe it was just you, being a naive little girl, but no." He was taunting them now. "Are you gonna live in the Seam? Better get rid of all those white dresses, Madge, wouldn't want them to turn black in the dirty Seam."

Gale doesn't hesitate to connect his fist with Connor's face.

"I deserved that," Connor mutters rubbing his cheek. "I don't know what got into me. I just saw red. I'm sorry Madge." Madge nods shock written all over her face. She was the one who should be apologizing, not him. Her thoughts are interrupted. "No, you don't need to apologize. I'm just hurt. I'll get over it. I've have to get out of here." Connor left them, the hurt and shock written all over his face.

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**Review please!**


	16. Reminders

**Sorry for the long update time! I've been extremely busy with work and my family. But I will try to stay on track!**

**Thank you for all the support and love! Keep it coming! I swear it gives me the inspiration needed to churn these suckers out!**

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Gale was going to be over in an hour or so. Finally, after days of waiting to see her unidentified gentleman friend, they would get the chance to discuss the status of their relationship. Exactly, how long was deemed appropriate to wait before jumping into a relationship after an engagement? Surely one week was too short, that was obvious to her, but what about a month or two?

The last thing she wanted to do was shove Gale in Connor's face. Hurting Connor had never been her intention, but it happened and if it was in her power she was going to try and lessen any of his pain. It wasn't as if her feelings for him had just disappeared after that night. Every time he was a shoulder to lean and cry on didn't just disappear. They were friends; he was one of her best friends actually. During the time they dated, she had spent a lot of her time by his side.

Hopefully Gale wouldn't have a problem with the fact that she still wanted to stay on friendly terms with Connor.

The time she spent in the shower was used to mull over all of this: Gale, Connor, and everything in between.

She walked absent-mindedly into her room, humming to herself as she towel-dried her hair.

Opening her eyes they met a pair of grey ones standing near her bookshelf, book in hand. His eyes widened at her clothing, or lack there of. She still had half an hour. What could he be doing here?

His eyes ran over her bare legs, and the thin tank top that covered her torso. Everything was visible to him.

She made a squeak and ran back into the jointed bathroom. Locking herself in, her back to the door she gave herself a moment to compose herself. Gale, who she had basically gone on zero dates with, saw more of her than her fiancée ever had. The embarrassment was evident on her face, which was as red as a tomato.

Breathe, she told herself. Just breathe.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gruff male voice. "C'mon Madge, I didn't see much," he whispered on the other side of the door. He wasn't supposed to be here yet. In fact, he wasn't supposed to be here at all. Her parents would kill her if they knew a boy had snuck into her room late at night. Well, her mother might not care _that_ much. But her father would be up in arms.

Her father was so obviously shocked and disappointed by the break-up, while her mother attempted to show the same sadness. Though to Madge, who knew better, the glint in her eyes was clear as day.

"What are you doing here so early?" She muttered, trying to calm herself.

"I was in the mood for a show."

The comment was received with silence.

"Too soon?" There was a pause before he continued, attempting to coax her out of the bathroom. "You're body is beautiful Madge. I'm sorry I didn't see it on your terms, but I'm not sorry I saw it." He laughed. "If I was I wouldn't be a teenage boy who is enamored with you."

A groan escaped her lips. The clothes she had prepared to change into were in her room, in a pile on her bed. What good they did there, she thought. Her only choice was to go out and face him again.

"Turn and face the bookshelf, and do not under any circumstance look at me, okay?"

Gale muttered something in agreement. His steps moved in the direction of the bookshelf.

Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the bathroom door and took a step into her bedroom, checking to make sure Gale had made good on his deal. He had. No wonder he had gotten here so quickly, he was still in his mining uniform, a layer of coal dust covering his entire being.

Dressing herself in a pair of cotton pajama shorts and a thin sweatshirt, she faced Gale's back, stepped toward him and announced her decency.

The miner turned around, a small smile playing on his lips, the memory of her in her yellow cotton underwear and thin white tank top would be playing on a loop in his brain.

"I'm going to get cleaned up." She nodded following him into the bathroom. First, he removed his mining shirt, a navy blue t-shirt underneath. Why did he have to wear such a fitted t-shirt? It was going to make it impossible for her to pay attention to the conversation they were supposed to having. That she could already guess. The navy color of the shirt looked so nicely on his skin, making the grey in his eyes lean more toward a grey blue. He was just so handsome.

Next, he leaned down toward the sink and meticulously washed the coal from his hands. He spent extra time working on the dirt that had gotten underneath his fingernails. The water didn't stop running until he was sure his fingers were completely clean. Lastly, he washed his face of all of the remnants of coal that remained on his skin at least. The uniform pants were still covered in coal, as were his boots, which he removed as well, lining them next to the bathroom sink.

After the cleaning routine, he walked toward Madge, smiling down at her. He had waited forever for this. His thoughts were plagued with this moment. The moment they would finally be able to be together after so long. At the sight of him above her, her eyes had shut. Gale ran his now clean hand over her cheek. She was just so damn beautiful. Her cheeks were still pink from the embarrassment of before. Her hair was still wet from her shower or bath, he didn't know which her bathtub also had a shower head. His fingers gently walked down her neck toward her exposed shoulder where her sweatshirt hung off of.

This was how he preferred her. Undone. No makeup. Her hair natural and in her most comfortable clothing. It was a nice change.

Her eyes were still closed. He moved down to kiss the end of her shoulder. Slowly, he made a line of kisses toward her neck then up it until he reached her jaw. It reminded him of the moment they shared in her laundry room before he left when he did just this. The only difference was that now he could continue towards her lips. Nothing was stopping him. He kissed her cheek. A smile lit up her face. And it took everything he had not to kiss it off of her face. He wanted to revel in it. It had been a pretty long time since he was the recipient of one of her smiles, without the guilt on both sides.

Finally he hovered above her lips, teasing her. His lips were going to stay _just_ out of her reach, until finally she made the first move. He needed to know she wanted this too, just as badly as he did.

She did. Five seconds hadn't passed before she tilted her head forward to join her lips to him. He loved how impatient she was. She took his bottom lips between hers, sucking on it. Gale liked that she was taking charge. Hell, Gale liked that she was just kissing him period. On her tippy toes, with Gale's neck craned down towards her, she could barely reach his lips so he decided to assist her. He picked her up, her legs wrapped around his waist. Her back was now against the bookshelves. Their breaths were ragged between kisses. Time had definitely made the heart grow fonder, or at least their lips.

Hell, things were getting hot and heavy incredibly quickly, even for Gale, but Gale wasn't one to back down. This was he had been missing for so long. The passion that flew between them. It was like an addiction, and he just couldn't get enough. His craving for it just grew and grew with each hit.

It was Madge who spoke up, while Gale was planting kisses all over her neck.

"We're supposed to be _talking."_

Gale groaned. "I'm doing some of my best work here, Undersee." She could feel his smirk against her neck. "And I've _missed_ you."

Her hand pushed against his chest. "I've missed you too, but we're supposed to be talking about the future of our relationship and any concerns we have."

A few objections left Gale's mouth, but he knew it was for the better of their relationship. It couldn't all be kisses and passion, so he placed her down on the ground.

"Okay what do you want to talk about?"

Madge grabbed the miner's much bigger hand in hers and led him to her desk, seating him in the chair, while she made her way to her bed.

"I think we need some distance," she gave him a shy smile. That was obvious by both parties' swollen lips.

She ran a hand threw her wet hair, pushing it away from her face. "I was just wondering what made you reconsider everything. You had been so dead set on me not ending up in the Seam, you even punched Connor when he mentioned it. I don't want that issue to come up again."

His hand rubbed the bridge of his nose before he looked back at her, his eyes making contact with hers. "First, I want you to keep something in mind before this relationship continues any longer."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she nodded anyway.

"I'm no gentleman; I can be a prick. But I regret a lot more than I admit, Madge. I regret not cutting in while you were dancing with Thom at the party. I regret not kissing you on that dance floor. I regret listening to your father, and not fighting for us, like you deserve. You deserve someone who will fight for you. Hopefully, I've made up for that in the last months. I regret risking what we had or could have had for Katniss. It wasn't worth it. She's nothing but a friend, and I was a fool to think otherwise. I regret not breaking apart that kiss you shared with Connor in the square. You don't know how long that image was burned into my retinas. I regret not kissing you in your laundry room, but you already know that. I regret not regretting breaking you and Connor apart. I know it wasn't supposed to happen that way, but I can't help but just be happy it happened." He grinned at her from across the room. "I want to be with you Madge, if you'll have me. If one day along the way you want to marry me and live in the Seam I'd be honored." He paused before adding, "I'm all in."

She grinned back at him, and decided they had been apart too long to force distance now. Closing the distance between them, she bent down to give him a kiss. The necklace around her neck hit his chin. He opened his eyes, wondering what the heavy pendant was. Her engagement ring was staring back at him. What the hell was it still doing on her? Even it just being around her neck didn't sit well with him. She wasn't Connor's anymore. Finally, she was his, and he didn't want a reminder of Connor anywhere on her.

"What?" She asked confused, attempting to read his face.

"Why are you still wearing his engagement ring?" His tone was sharp.

Madge bit her lip nervously. "He came over earlier this morning to apologize about last night. By the way, you left him quite the shiner." She paused waiting for his laugh that never came. "Alright," she continued. "And he brought me this chain, and told me he didn't want the ring back. He said he wanted me to have it, and that it would always by my ring. He understands, Gale. He just wanted me to have something to remember him."

Gale's face was blank. Why did she want to have something to remember him by? After what he said, she shouldn't have even opened the door.

"Gale," he looked up at her. "I want to be his friend."

His face cringed. "Whatever you want, Undersee." But he didn't say it with the usual warm tone she was used to hearing her surname uttered.

"He's one of my best friends, Gale. I can't just sever ties with him, especially when he didn't do anything wrong."

"I said you can do whatever you want."

"But you don't mean that. You want me to burn my bridges with him. I can't, I'm sorry. He is still one of the only people I can confide in Gale. When you left, I didn't have anyone else, but him."

His face softened. "I told you I could be a prick." He bit his lip. There was another concern he had, but he was unsure whether or not it was any of his business.

"Is there something else you wanted to say?" She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand.

Gale couldn't look at her when he asked it. It was stupid really, but he couldn't get it out of his head. "I know Connor was a lot older than you." His eyes flew to the open window, staring at the oak tree that made sneaking into Madge's bedroom late at night almost too easy. "And older guys expect more out of their girlfriends." He took a deep breath. "And you two were engaged." Another pause.

Madge interrupted him. "The answer is no."

He smiled at her, relieved. "I know it's none of my business and it would've been my fault anyway that it happened, but it was on my mind."

She laughed placing her hand on his knee. "You can put your mind at ease now."

Gale laughed leaning into her. "Maybe not exactly at ease, I mean I still have that visual of you from before in my head."

The blushing girl slapped Gale's arm, but couldn't resist leaning into the kiss as well.

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**Review please!**


	17. Outsider

**For some reason I always forget that I'm actually way less busy during the school year then during the summer. I'll try harder to update!**

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Chapter Seventeen

"What am I supposed to be looking for exactly?" Gale asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Anything that has to do with the Hunger Games, like favorites to win and such. Anything along those lines." Madge gave him a warm smile, which was all she would give him in the presence of others. He did mind, though he perfected acting like he didn't. Now that she was finally his he wanted to actually be with her with no limits. But he understood her reasons. She had _just_ been engaged not even a month ago, and there was going to be enough rumors just because he was from the Seam and she wasn't. Oh and not to forget she wasn't just any merchant girl, she was _the_ merchant girl, the mayor's daughter. And just add in that Gale may or may not have broken up an engagement and the whispers would be unrelenting. He didn't want that for them. He just wanted them to be able to be happy together.

All he wanted was to be her escape, her place away from all the pain in the world. The same way she was for him. She brought him away from all the pain he associated with the mines, the pressure to take care of his family, Katniss and the Hunger Games, everything. Her smile was enough to transport him away from the rest of the world.

"Are you even looking?" She was behind him, now looking over the paper he was supposed to be looking over, but was too busy thinking about her and them.

"Sorry, you're very distracting."

She grinned down at him. "I am not!" The blonde leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He looked up at her. "Now I definitely own't be able to concentrate." His lips found hers. There wasn't anyone, but them in the house. She smiled through the kiss. He loved when she did that. When he could feel her smile against his mouth. He sucked gently on her bottom lip, and then they were interrupted.

The door to Peeta's house opened, revealing a very exhausted looking Katniss and Haymitch and a satisfied Peeta.

Madge straightened her dress, which Peeta raised an eyebrow to. Red flooded Madge's cheeks.

"It's really nice that while we're preparing for the slaughter you two can find the time to make out."

The red that had previously marked Madge's cheeks disappeared and her face was white, while Gale was fairly certain his was red in anger.

"Katniss stop. Madge was working and _I_ distracted her, so lay off of her." Gale didn't like this, the way Katniss jumped right at Madge's jugular. He got up from his place at the table and walked toward Katniss, grabbing her arm leading her away from the group.

Peeta looked at Madge apologetically, but said nothing. "Let me help you after I get cleaned up." He gave her a soft smile. His hair was slicked back with sweat and his t-shirt was sticking to his skin. He left the dining room table and ran up the stairs, presumably to get cleaned up. Now she was alone with Haymitch.

"She's just stressed and nervous. Try not to mind her."

She gave the older a half-hearted smile. Naively she had thought that if there was anyone who could accept their relationship it would be their friends, but Katniss obviously didn't. Was it her? Madge had thought they were friends, Katniss had even taken her into the woods and attempted teaching her how to shoot. Granted she hadn't been that good, but it was the thought that counted, right? It was the bonding time. They had even talked during that time. But now she wasn't acting like she even liked Madge. Instead she was treating her more like she was the outsider, and maybe she was. Maybe she would always be the outsider.

"I understand. I think I'm just going to go," she gathered the papers on the table. "Thank Peeta for the hospitality. I'll just give you the information I found when you visit my mother this week, okay?"

Haymitch nodded.

As she left the house, Gale's voice rang through the air. "She's risking her life for you, you know? If anyone was to find her with those papers, she could be punished and for what? An ungrateful friend?"

Madge couldn't hear Katniss's response, and she really wasn't in the mood to hear her boyfriend defend her to her supposed friend. So she opened the door hastily. "I'm leaving. I'll see you later Gale." She nodded at Katniss. "Katniss, I'm sorry." She said and began the short trek to her home. Madge had apologized, maybe she had been wrong. Katniss was getting ready for the slaughter, while she and Gale were beginning their life together, something that Katniss would never be able to do. And even if she the Quarter Quell hadn't occurred the way it had, then she would still be forced to marry Peeta, though Peeta was a great catch.

"Stop Madge, let me walk with you," he gave Katniss a pointed look.

Madge stopped, letting Gale catch up with her.

"I'm sorry Madge. I don't know what's gotten into her. Stress usually doesn't make her act out like this."

She turned to look at him. "You can't save me from everyone, Gale. People are going to be mean. I've dealt with it before."

Gale ran his hand over his cheek. "I'm going to try. I can't help it. You don't deserve it, you're so kind to everyone especially when they don't deserve it."

People in the street were looking at them curiously, but Madge paid them no attention. It was hard for her to pay attention to anything else when Gale was around.

He grabbed her hand, "C'mon let's get you home."

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Even though they both knew it was coming, that didn't change the fact that it was still hard to see them go.

They had spent months, trying to prepare them for the unknown. No one but the Gamemaker and a few others knew what was going to happen in that arena.

Gale was holding her hand when they announced Katniss's names and squeezed it. They had known she was going to be called. That was inevitable.

Next they called Haymitch's name, and as expected Peeta volunteered to take his place. As he made his way to the front, Madge noticed that his limp had become less and less pronounced over time, but it still was there. Surely this was going to cause problems for him in the games. It saddened her. She could tell that Katniss was planning on saving Peeta this time, while he was naturally planning on saving her. But even if either of them succeeded and the other returned without their partner, they would forever be damaged. Hell, they already were damaged, but they'd be worse. Madge could see it now. Peeta returning without Katniss, a broken person, an empty shell of a man. Not the Peeta she had grown up with, the Peeta who loved to make people smile with his words. The one who whose eyes were always searching for Katniss, maybe they would continue even if she died in the games. What kind of a life was that.

What they hadn't expected was not being granted admittance to see them after the announcement.

Instead, they had to watch them board the train. She could feel Gale fuming beside her. They were doing this on purpose, almost as a punishment. It wasn't enough that their friends were being forced to die in a game for the entire country to watch, they didn't even get a goodbye now?

Gale grabbed Madge into an embrace and buried his face into her neck.

They just took and took, until there was nothing left to give.

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**Just sayin' the more you review the more I get inspired to write... Just sayin' :)**


	18. Meet the Parents

**Sorry if you guys feel like I've been neglecting you, I haven't! **

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Chapter Eighteen

"One, two, three, four," Madge counted off and she began playing. Her and Thom were playing a duet together, herself on the piano and Thom strumming along on his guitar. Gale had decided to tag along on one of their lessons. It was one of Gale's favorite things, hearing and seeing Madge play. While she was singing and playing it was as if the world fell by the wayside and it was just her and the music. It was a beautiful sight to behold._  
_

He especially loved when she sang to him. Blue eyes meeting his grey ones and a particular line or verse would be dedicated to him. Sometimes the intensity in her gaze was hypnotizing, especially when she sang. The blue of her eyes seeming more like a lake you could fall in than anything else. It wasn't a rarity that he fell into them. Or other times her gaze was so light and a smile was on her lips the entire time. He loved those times as well, when Madge was carefree and worry-free.

This time it was the latter, carefree and worry-free Madge.

Madge was all smiles and lightness, as she sang in tune with Thom.

But that didn't last very long.

The mayor had arrived home early, and at the sight of Gale he wouldn't be all smiles and lightness the way Madge was.

"Madge, you sounded beauti-," He was mid-compliment when the sight of Gale stopped him.

Gale wasn't particularly scared of him, though everything in his body told him that he should be. It had been his first mistake to let Madge go, at the request of the Mayor, and he wouldn't make it again.

"Thom, I think it would be best if you left."

Madge opened her mouth to protest, but preceded to close it again. It was probably better if Thom wasn't around when her father scolded Gale. That was his best friend, and it would only be natural for him to defend him. No one would blame him for that. But Madge didn't want Thom to be roped in the same category with Gale. Her father liked Thom and it was no use to anyone to have him disliked by her father.

Thom nodded soundlessly and packed up his guitar quicker than she had ever seen. He gave them a silent goodbye and good luck with his eyes as he left.

The mayor turned to his daughter, "Madge you should go too. I have something to say to Gale and Gale only." His eyes narrowed.

"Anything you have to say to Gale you can say in front of me, _Dad_." Madge rose from the piano bench and walked confidently towards Gale, who was standing now, and laced her fingers with his.

The older man looked exasperated.

"So you're going to have me understand that you broke off the engagement with Connor for this _delinquent _here?" He had said delinquent in such disgust it had shocked her. She had never heard her father speak with such derision in all her years.

"He's not a delinquent!" She shouted in defense of Gale.

Her father looked at her and spoke to her this time, like she was a small child. "But he is darling or he never would have received that whipping."

Gale unconsciously growled.

The mayor feigned shock. "It's like he's an animal."

"What's going on here?" A frail feminine voice interrupted authoritatively.

The mayor turned in shock at the voice, as did Madge. It wasn't everyday that her mother was well enough to descend the stairs. She looked beautiful as ever, like an angel, Madge thought. Her blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders and her cream colored robe that made her blue eyes shine even brighter than usual. But she still looked weak. Madge noticed the way her left hand was clutching the stairs for support as if worried when she let go she would fall.

"Nothing, my dear, go back upstairs," the mayor started, "you should rest."

But she didn't look persuaded.

"I think I'd rather stay," she moved to sit at the piano bench. Her weak muscles seemed appeased at the small gesture, which took the pressure off of them. She didn't care what the reason, no one yelled at her daughter like that. No one spoke to her daughter in such a condescending tone, especially not her own father. There was no way.

The woman moved to take in the young man she assumed to be Gale, the boy her daughter was in love with, and the Seam boy that her husband despised. "You must be Gale."

Gale nodded, shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Undersee."

"I wished we were meeting under better circumstances." She really did. He reminded her so much of Haymitch at his age, except he was bigger, a lot bigger. He held himself with the same confidence though and despite being raised in the Seam. He was gorgeous as well, one couldn't ask for a better looking son-in-law. But the most important part was the way he was looking at Madge. It reminded her of Haymitch and the way he looked at her. It was all she could want for her daughter, for someone to love her completely and for her to do the same in return.

"Madeline, stop this. Stop encouraging this relationship. I will not allow it." He gave his wife an incredulous look. What was she doing? Supporting their daughter living in the Seam? It was ridiculous. She had been engaged to a dashing man, kind and with a promising future, but she threw it all away. Threw it all away for a criminal. And was willing to throw away the rest of her life for him now.

Madge watched her mother. Her mother was staring at her father thoughtfully, as if she was trying to pick her words carefully. Trying not to particularly anger her husband. That wouldn't do anyone any good, especially not her daughter. "Samuel," she started. "I want what's best for Margaret the same way as you do." She stopped, taking a labored breath. It was rare that she had the strength to be downstairs, sitting up by herself, without the aid of a chair with a back. Not to mention that she wasn't particularly adept at arguing, or at least not in the state she was in, where every breath made her lungs ache. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire, as if someone had leaked holes in them. But she barely noticed it. There was a reason why she descended those stairs in defense of her daughter. In defense of young love. "I think we both can see how much she loves Gale and how much Gale loves her." Looking over at Madge and Gale's hands, which were tightly clasped, affirmed the statement. "And I trust, that there isn't anyone else better fit for the job of watching over our daughter." Now she looked over at her beautiful daughter. "I'm sorry for forcing Connor on you. If I had known about Gale, I wouldn't have. I want you to know that I trust your decisions."

The blonde smiled at her mother. "Thank you."

Her father was staring blankly at his wife, in complete and utter shock. "This is ridiculous. What happens if he dies in the mines, leaving you with children? What are you going to do then, Madge?"

Gale tensed beside her. He had considered the idea before. It was one of his biggest fears for what happened to his mother to happen to Madge, his heart, the love of his life, alone with their children. Although, the idea of them having children period made his heart swell, but the idea of her alone in the Seam, struggling to make ends meet without him by her side terrified him. She turned, giving him a sympathetic look and squeezed his hand attempting to reassure him.

"Samuel!" Madeline scolded, though it didn't come out as strongly as she would have hoped to. Her mother turned to Madge. "Margie, I think it would be best if you both left. It was very nice to meet you Gale."

"Likewise, Mrs. Undersee." Gale nodded toward the mayor. "Mr. Undersee." He pulled Madge out of the room and out the front door until they were standing outside.

Madge looked up at him, sadly. "I'm sorry Gale. I suspected that he was going to be awful, but not that bad. Especially the thing about-" She stopped. "I don't want to repeat it, but-"

Kissing her on the cheek, Gale attempted to silence her. He was trying not to focus to hard on everything that her father had said about them. What if he didn't die, but got injured instead and couldn't work? What would they do then? There were so many different ways that their lives could turn sour. But was that the way to live life? Just waiting for something to go wrong? That was no way to live life or at least that wasn't what Gale considered living at all. And he planned to _live_ the rest of his days with Madge, getting married and having children. All of that and more.

So they sat outside for a while, until Gale decided that he had to make this right with Mr. Undersee.

"Madge, I'm need to talk to your father."

Madge looked up at him, worry written all over her face, but she nodded. Gale was stubborn, she knew that much, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Gale kissed away the worry lines from her face. Although, she also wanted Gale to do right by her father, even if he was being a huge jerk.

Gale climbed the stairs, gaining confidence with every step. This had to be done.

He knocked on the door, just in case Mr. and Mrs. Undersee were still discussing what he could only assume was his and Madge's relationship.

The mayor answered. "Up for another round?" Gale joked, trying to seem as likable as possible.

The older man nodded and walked away, leaving the door open for Gale to follow him inside.

"Would you like a nightcap, Gale?"

Gale nodded, though he wasn't entirely sure what a nightcap was.

"Rum? Vodka? Gin?"

He didn't know much about these fancy liquors, only the handmade ones the Ripper made.

"I'll just have whatever you're having."

"Alright. two gin rickeys it is."

Two minutes later, the mayor handed Gale a drink and gestured that he should sit on the couch across from the leather seat he was already sitting in.

"What made you come back?"

Gale took a deep breath. "I want you to trust me with your daughter. You just need to know that I love your daughter with everything I have." He took a drink from the glass. It smelled strong, though not as strong as what he was used to. The lime juice and club soda took away the taste from the liquor as well anyway.

The man nodded. "I know that. Well, now I realize that. You see I was convinced that you were just using my daughter for bragging rights to your little friends, but my wife has convinced me otherwise."

"I'm glad for that. I would never hurt your daughter."

"If you make my daughter happy, then I guess that's the most important thing. More important than all the money in the world."

"I will make your daughter happy. I promise you that."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

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**Reviews are always welcome and appreciated.**


	19. Louder than Bombs

**I feel like this chapter is horrible. I'm sorry if it is! The best part is the part that RoryFaller helped me out with. She's absolutely amazing. I may or may not go back and fix a few things. Probably not, knowing me.**

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Chapter Nineteen

Madge had a knot in her stomach. She had the overwhelming feeling that something terrible was going to happen. Naturally, her first thoughts flew straight to Gale and the mines. Although, she had her own fears about Gale working in the mines, they had become even more prevalent now that her own father had brought them to light. But he had done that on purpose just to hurt him, hadn't he? He didn't really think that would happen right? It wasn't as likely as she thought it was, was it? The thoughts were downright terrifying. Her thoughts often went back to her time in the meadow with Gale when he opened up to her about his own fears about his work, about dying and leaving his family to fend for themselves. Her thoughts often followed the same pattern. Every morning, as she gets ready for school, she takes a minute to say a silent prayer to whoever is listening to keep Gale safe. It momentarily appeases the small knot that is always in her stomach until the end of the workday.

It's a Saturday, so she had no school, leaving Madge with more free time to worry. The games are showing almost immediately after Gale gets out of work, and usually she would watch them with him, but since her mother has been so ill lately she makes it a point to stay home to keep her company and be there if she happens to need anything.

When she walks into her mother's room, the shades are still pulled shut, leaving the room dark. She can barely make out her mother in the rumpled sheets.

"Margie?" Her mother whispered into the darkness.

"Are you okay?" Madge asks moving to her mother's bedside. "Do you need anything?"

Her frail mother smiled softly at her daughter, touching her face. "What happened after I went back to bed between Gale and your father?"

Madge sat at the edge of the bed. "I don't really know. After you told me and Gale to wait outside while you talked to Dad, Gale went back inside and had a drink with him. I guess they have some sort of understanding. Gale wouldn't tell me much, just that I didn't have to worry about Dad disapproving of our relationship." She paused. "What exactly did you tell him to change his mind?"

A grin lit up her mother's face. "I told him to think back to before the games, to before you had Gale."

"What do you mean?" Madge asked, her eyebrows furrowing. "What was I like before?"

"Well," the ends of her mouth tugged upwards. "You were so quiet and you always kept to yourself. It was almost as if you were just moving through the motions, trying to whatever you thought would make me and your father happy. But you didn't do anything for yourself, not until Gale. You didn't even think about what we would think about Gale when you two started your relationship. All you could see was him, even then. I know there's not a lot in this district to be thankful for or happy about, especially considering your friend was thrown back into the games, but it just seems like Gale is your shining light in the darkness. So I told him just that. That you needed Gale and it seemed to make sense to him. I think it helped that Gale came back for that drink. I think it helped to prove that he was willing to fight for you. I think your father found that very commendable."

Madge stopped, thinking about what her life had been without Gale. It wasn't as if she couldn't live without him because she definitely could; she'd proved that much to herself during their time apart. Before Gale, it had been like she was seeing the world through the eyes of someone who was colorblind. But after Gale, the world burned brighter. She experienced the world differently now. A good different.

She smiled half-heartedly at her mother. "Mom," she paused, trying to piece together her thoughts, "I have this bad feeling about today."

Her mother sat up in bed, her back against the maple headboard. "What kind of a bad feeling?" A worried look overtook her mother's face. Madge looked so serious. As she brought her hands up to run them through her hair, Madeline could see that they were visibly shaking. She grabbed them, holding them in her own hands, attempting to stop them from shaking so much.

"I don't know." She eyes met her mother's calm blue eyes. "I just woke up with this huge knot in my stomach."

Her mother smoothed her hair down, holding her daughter's shaking hands down with her free hand. "A lot of things are changing Madge."

"What are you talking about?" Madge asked nervously. But before her mother could answer, she clutched at her head letting out a whimper of pain. Madge ran to her mother's dresser, frantically searching for the vials of morphling. She found them wrapped in one of her mother's silk scarves. Absentmindedly she shoved it into the pocket of her grey cardigan and returned with a prepared syringe to her mother's side.

"I'm going to count to three, okay?" She explained to her mother, grabbing her arm and searching for a vein. "One," she breathed in taking a deep breath, "Two," she exhaled, "Three." The syringe went into her mother's arm and she pressed down on the plunger, until all of the liquid was gone. Her mother's eyes glazed over and her breath became shallow. The mother she had been speaking with was gone now, and in her place was a body. The shell of her mother.

"Maysilee," her mother whispered, half-lidded.

"Yes?" Madge answered dutifully though she wasn't the person her mother really wanted to see.

"Stick with Haymitch. He'll keep you safe."

"I know," she answered. She grabbed the edge of the blanket and brought it up to underneath her mother's chin. This was her mother. Someone who barely recognized her own daughter, and too often called her by her sister's name. When she was younger it used to bother her a lot, but now, she barely thought twice about it.

Quietly she walked out of her parents' room and down the stairs into the living room, her guitar in tow. She walked out of the house and sat on the front porch, playing to forget. She was trying hard to forget that after taking the morphling her mother wasn't really fit to be much of a mother. The knot in her stomach tightened and Madge felt like she could physically double over in pain, but she fought the pain and played through the song. But the knot continued to tighten and there was no escaping it. So eventually she stopped trying and just sat on her porch and stared as the other merchants walked to their destinations, most of them would be making their way to the square by now. The games would be playing soon, and since they were winding down everyone was itching to watch. Well, everyone but Madge. Because it was a Quarter Quell, Madge's mother was particularly sensitive to this round of the games. After all in the last Quarter Quell her sister had been slaughtered. So during this round of the games she sat by her mother's side, most often playing her guitar, trying to drown out the cries and screams of dying tributes. The same was true of this night.

From Madge's peripherals she could see that they were working out some elaborate plan that Madge probably would have had a hard time following if she had actually been paying attention. Looking over at her mother, she could tell that she was trying to block out the games playing in the background, furrowing her eyebrows and attempting to focus solely on her daughter 's playing.

"I'm sorry Madge, it's not working this time; you can put it away."

Madge knew as much, and put the guitar back into its case. She sat at the foot of her mother's bed and watched the game. There was complete and utter chaos and then it looked as if Katniss and some others were being lifted out of the arena.

And then everything cut off. The room was pitch black. It was as if everyone in the district were holding their breaths all at the same time. It was that silent.

"Run," her mother whispered harshly. "Run Margie as fast as you can to the Hawthorne's. Don't look back. We love you."

Madge didn't need to be told twice. Grabbing her guitar, she ran down the steps and out the door. Running as fast as she could for the Hawthornes.

By the time she reached the Town- Seam line, she heard the bombs dropping. They were deafening, so extremely loud, but like her mother told her she didn't look back, just clutched the guitar tighter and continued running. Even though her breathing was ragged and her knees felt as if they would give out from underneath her she kept running.

* * *

Gale on the other hand, upon hearing the explosion had gathered his family and the Everdeen's and left them in Rory's care, to lead them to the meadow. He would meet them there.

"Where are you going?" Posy asked, clutching to Gale's pant legs.

Grabbing her in his arms, Gale kissed her on the forehead, "I've got to go get Miss Madge."

Posy nodded knowingly. She loved Madge too.

"Be careful, Gale," his mother advised, the worry and anxiety evident in her voice.

He nodded before running off. Toward the mayor's house.

It was complete and utter chaos. There were people running in every direction imaginable and at the same time without any direction. Gale yelled for them to run to the meadow, to meet his mother there. But only a few could hear him because the bombs were so loud, and everyone was screaming anyway. But he told those who listened to spread the word.

On the way he must have told at least one hundred people to go to the meadow, more if the rest had been able to hear him.

When he finally reached the Town, he saw that most of it was on fire. Much more of the houses in the Town was on fire than had been in the Seam. It made his stomach tighten. He couldn't think now though about the idea of Madge being gone. Swallowed by the flames.

And when he reached the mayor's house his worst fears were realized. The house was up in flames, or at least the back of it was. The fire hadn't spread to the front door. The doorknob was cool to the touch as he opened it. He searched frantically for Madge, but there was no sign of her. At the sight of the burning piano, he almost felt as if it might be some kind of a metaphor. Had Madge already been up in flames? Perhaps waiting for Gale to save her? Forever waiting for him? But before he could consider the idea much longer, a burning beam fell. He thought he had been quick enough to evade it, but it caught his left leg. The smell of his own charred flesh was enough to make him want to retch. The smoke was choking him; he could hardly breathe. And after about five minutes of fighting to breathe, he found himself fighting to stay conscious as well.

* * *

Finally after what seemed like forever, Madge had found her way to the Hawthornes. She had pushed and at one point had to put her mother's silk scarf on her mouth to be able to breathe through the smoke. But no one was at the Hawthornes, the small house was empty. So she ran to the Everdeens, knowing that Gale had promised to take care of them. But it too was empty. Then she thought of the meadow and the woods, where the Capitol was sure not to be bombing. So with the last of her strength she sprinted to the meadow.

The meadow was packed, overflowing with people, but the Everdeens and Hawthornes were no where to be found.

"Madge!" She heard Vick's distinct voice yell, not quite a little boy's voice, but definitely not yet a teenage boy's voice.

She enveloped him. "Thank God you guys are okay." Madge looked around at the families. But there was no tall brooding Gale. "Where's Gale?" She asked, now frantically searching for him in the crowd, but there was no sight of him.

"He went looking for you," Hazelle answered, fear in her eyes.

"Oh no," Madge whispered, meeting Hazelle's grey eyes.

* * *

Gale felt someone removing the beam from his leg.

"Gale!" Someone yelled, he assumed it was the same person. "Wake up! I need you to wake up!"

It was Connor. Connor was saving his life. Groggily he opened his eyes, but all he could see was smoke.

"C'mon!" He felt himself being pulled up now. Connor wrapped his arm around Gale's waist, steadying him.

The fire had spread in the time that Gale had knocked out. It was surrounding them.

With Gale at his side, Connor walked toward a window that wasn't completely engulfed by the flames. Gale was coughing.

"Breathe into my shoulder," Connor advised, as he took a breath into the sleeve of his flannel jacket. Connor covered his fist in the sleeve and punched a hole into the glass. First, he got Gale out of the house and then he stumbled out himself.

They walked through the Town, trying hard not to focus on the expanse of dead bodies everywhere. While some were still on fire, others were just on the ground unmoving. He realized that some may have been trampled to death, which seemed like one of the worst ways to die, while others had pieces of shrapnel in places that he knew were fatal.

"Why did you save me?" Gale looked at the man who he was still leaning on. His ankle felt like hell.

Connor looked over at him thoughtfully. "I went to make sure Madge was out of there, but when I saw you I knew I couldn't let you just die in there, not if I could help it." He took a breath. "You would've done the same for me, even if I were still engaged to the woman you loved."

Gale nodded.

But then he felt himself being thrown into the air, away from Connor. The impact from the fall sent a pain through Gale's entire body.

While the smoke cleared Gale called out Connor's name, searching for him through the grey smoke.

And then he found him. He was laying on his side, still, facing away from Gale. Gale dragged himself toward him. "Connor?"

He didn't answer.

Turning him over, Gale saw the reason why he wasn't talking. There was a piece of shrapnel lodged deep in his chest.

Connor blinked at him, and then he stopped blinking and breathing.

"Thank you," Gale whispered, closing his eyes. If Gale hadn't been unconscious, then Connor wouldn't have wasted his time saving him, and maybe he would have gotten to the meadow safely. He risked his life for Gale. For someone who had stolen his fiancée from right under him.

He got to his feet, slowly and walked as quickly as he could toward the meadow, dragging his left foot behind him. Every step was excruciating, but he managed, through the rubble and dead bodies. His eyes widened at the sight of the meadow. There was at least five hundred people waiting in the meadow, covered in soot, waiting for something or someone to save them.

At the sight of him, some of the men Gale knew from work rushed to his aid, guiding him through the crowds of people until they reached a crowd he was most familiar.

"Gale!" Madge cried, struggling out of Rory's arms. There were tears streaming out of her eyes. "Are you alright? Why aren't you walking on your own?"

Thom walked toward Gale, supporting him in the same way that Connor had. He thanked his coworkers, and they rushed off to return to their families. Thom lead him to a stump so he could rest his injured leg.

"I went to your house, but you weren't there." He brushed his hand down her face. "I thought you were gone." He leaned down to kiss her, making sure to never take her for granted ever again. "And a beam fell on my leg and I was trapped. I could hardly breathe in there, and when I woke up Connor was there, saving me."

"Connor?" Absently, her hand reached up to the engagement ring around her neck. "Where is he?" She asked searching the crowd for the familiar blonde.

Gale shook his head. "He didn't make it. A bomb separated us, and a piece of shrapnel lodged itself into his chest."

Madge started sobbing now. She hadn't thought about it. But the reality of Connor's mortality brought the thought of her parents as well. "They're gone. Not just Connor, but my mommy, my daddy." She looked like a little girl. "I'm an orphan." Gale grabbed her, putting her into his lap, smoothing down her hair. He couldn't even feel the pain in his leg. All he could feel was the pain in Madge's heart.


	20. Heartbreak

**Sorry for taking awhile. I would've posted earlier, but I was reading _The Fault in Our Stars_ and spent a lot of time crying. This is kinda filler until we get to District Thirteen. It will be coming up next.**

* * *

Gale looked over at Madge, who was leaning into Thom's side, crying. That's all she had been doing since Gale had arrived. He guessed that without the idea of Gale's impending death Madge now had the ability to focus on the very real deaths of her parents and Connor. He hadn't wanted to let her go, but she insisted he get his leg looked at. Thom was already at her side, holding her. Gale only had a limited knowledge of what Madge was feeling. Yes, he had lost his father, but to lose both of your parents and one of your best friends all in one day? That just seemed tortuous. It was definitely heartbreaking. Her cries were all he could hear. It was as if his ears were specially in-tune to them. They were heart-wrenching sobs. At first, they had been silent tears, running down her face once she realized that her parents were gone and so was Connor. But now, they had transformed into the kind of crying that made your eyes swollen and your throat ache. Those physical aches were probably the least of her problems though.

He watched as Thom smoothed down her hair, just as he had been doing before.

"She's strong," Mrs. Everdeen stated examining his burnt ankle. "You're lucky the burns didn't go that deep. Your ankle is mostly hurt from the weight of the beam. Looks like a sprain. You should try to keep off of it."

"I know she's strong, but this might be enough to break her. I can't even imagine what she's going through. I always had my mom." He looked at the small blonde, his heart contracted. "I don't know how I'm going to manage that, seeing as we have got to get under that fence and deep into the woods."

The woman sighed, wrapping his ankle in material from someone's clothing. "Have Thom and Rory walk you, Hazelle will walk with Madge." She had answered his question before he had even asked it. _What about Madge?_ What about her. She needed him now more than ever and Gale worried that he might not be enough.

Gale whistled, calling Rory's attention to him. The younger boy walked toward him and allowed his older brother to lean onto him. He was getting taller and taller by the day it seemed, though he was still much shorter than Gale. It didn't seem like it would be that way for long though.

"Are you going to be okay?" Rory asked his eyebrows furrowing in worry.

The older boy nodded, "Don't worry I'm going to be alright." His eyes were focused on Madge. But what about her? Was she going to be alright_?_

Almost as if he could hear Gale's thoughts, Rory answered, "She just needs time. It's like she's still in shock. But she's not alone, we're her family now," he gave his older brother a half-hearted smile. The sentiment was nice, sure, but the circumstances were less than favorable for Madge. But it was true, even though they weren't married she might as well be a Hawthorne.

First, he had Rory lead him toward his mother.

She turned to him, concern all over her face, "What did Mrs. Everdeen tell you?"

"I'll be fine. I just need to keep off of it as much as I can. She suggested this one and Thom help me hobble around."

His mother's eyes flitted toward Madge, who was still clinging to Thom. "I wish there was something I could do, but you know as well as I do that there's nothing that anyone can do to help her."

"I know. I know. But it sucks to see her this way and know that there is absolutely nothing I can do to lessen the pain."

Rory sighed, the Hawthornes all loved Madge, and it was hurting all of them to see her like this.

Turning away from his family members, Gale looked around. They needed to get out of the meadow, and soon. Rory helped him back towards Madge and Thom. Gale asked if they would go around informing everyone that they would be heading out into the woods immediately since Gale himself wasn't able to.

Madge had stopped crying long enough to understand that they would be moving around and sobbing would not be particularly beneficial for her.

"We're going in the woods?" She sniffled, her voice was groggy.

Gale nodded, wiping away the tears that still lingered on her face. "I know this place we can go, but it's a far walk."

She looked at his ankle. "Are_ you_ up for it?"

He nodded kissing her temple. "I have to be. We have to get out of here. It's too close to the district." He was staring into her eyes, hoping that he could transfer all of his condolences and sympathy to her just through his thoughts and gaze.

They were interrupted by an adorable voice. "Miss Madge?" Posy's voice was extremely polite. Her mother had drilled into her head not to interrupt Gale and Madge, especially when they were getting close and cuddly.

Madge turned to face the small dark-haired girl. "Hi Posy."

Posy looked up at her sadly, climbing into her lap. "Don't cry Miss Madge." The girl touched her face, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"I'm trying, Pose. I'm trying." She smoothed down Posy's hair.

Gale turned to his little sister. "Will you go get Rory and Thom?" He motioned not far in the distance toward where the two boys he was asking for were talking.

The small girl jumped off of Madge's lap and walked in the direction Gale had been pointing to.

"When we're alone, you can cry as much as you want."

"But we won't be alone for an undetermined amount of time."

Gale kissed her forehead. "Fine. Then when we're falling asleep, because yes we will fall asleep together tonight, for the first time, you can cry as much as you want Margaret. I promise I won't mind."

She gave him a small smile. The thought of falling asleep next to Gale made her nervous. Knowing that it was going to happen in the woods made her even more nervous. It was so Gale. She wasn't bothered at the fact that Posy had told her not to cry anymore. What four year old wanted to see a girl she admired cry? No one wanted to see anyone they loved cry, but she couldn't control it, especially not when it first hit her. She was alone in this world. The last Undersee. And then she realized something was bulging in her pocket. She reached down and grabbed it. It was her mother's scarf. It was black silk with pink roses all over it. When she brought the scarf up to her nose, her nostrils filled with her mother's scent of rosewater. She fought back her tears this time. She could hold them in until they were going to bed on the floor of the woods, surrounded by nature and other survivors. That she could do, or she could do her best to do at least.

Madge stood when she noticed that everyone around them were getting up and moving underneath the fence, which was dead since the District's power source had been cut. Rory and Thom came as well to help Gale. She was thankful for them. She was thankful for everyone who survived, even if her parents and ex-fianceé didn't.

Someone had cut more of the fence so the hole wasn't as small and down toward the ground as it had been before. It was a lot easier to get inside the fence this way.

Hazelle, Posy and Vick followed her underneath the fence, while Gale, Rory and Thom walked ahead of them.

"Are you okay?" Vick asked slowly, his eyes watching hers closely.

Why did he have to ask her that? Not right now. When they had a long walk ahead of them and she wouldn't be able to make a pit stop to cry her eyes out?

So she nodded, in essence lying to him.

But it was obvious, even to Vick who was fairly young and barely even remembered the loss of his father that she was not okay. It was written all over her face and body language. The way she held her arms and the way her eyes were perpetually watering when she got a moment to think to herself. The younger boy reached down and grabbed her hand, squeezing it.

"I'm sorry."

Madge squeezed back.

* * *

It felt as if they would never reach the (what seemed to be metaphorical) place that Gale was talking about.

Her feet ached and were extremely scraped up by twigs and rocks that refused to stay out of her flats. Her arms also ached, since she had been carrying Posy, on and off when her arms couldn't handle the small girl's weight anymore. The presence of the physical pain in her body had helped her forget the emotional pain that was making her heart ache.

"We're here," Gale called out, looking around at the survivors surrounding him.

Madge looked around. The woods were surrounding them, but there was a clearing in front of them where a small lake and cabin were located.

Most everyone were on the floor, either sitting down or completely lying down. All of whom were obviously as sore as Madge herself was. It was reassuring. She wasn't some weak merchant girl. She was just a _tired_ merchant girl. Well, more like she was just a tired girl. There was no Seam, no Town, no District Twelve. She wasn't the mayor's daughter anymore, because there was no mayor.

She sat down on the ground against a tree and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

Vick sat down next to her, leaning his head on her shoulder. The rest of the Hawthornes followed suit, surrounding Madge.

Posy had moved to sit on her lap and was smoothing down her hair. She kept repeating "it's okay," over and over again.

Rory was sitting at her feet, with Hazelle sitting behind him. Gale was standing over all of them, beholding the sight in front of him.

This was the woman he loved surrounded by his family who loved her too.

When his family noticed that Gale was there, they said their goodnights and walked away, though not too far away.

Gale sat down next to Madge, taking her in his arms. He layed back and they looked up at the stars together. He stayed silent, knowing that no words he could come up with would be enough to take away her sadness. He knew this from experience. Even despite the fact that with every tear Madge shed she was breaking his heart, he knew that this woman was completely worth it.

* * *

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	21. Never Coming Back

**Sorry for such a delay. I had such a problem writing about District Thirteen and how they got there, so I was a bit vague. Forgive me! I'm going to try and write as much as possible before heading back to school in a few weeks. So expect more from me in the future!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One

District Thirteen.

It really existed. Another lie told to them by the Capitol. Madge was no longer surprised by how low they would go to manipulate and control their people. These were the same people who sent twenty-four children away to fight for their lives every single year. There was nothing she would put past them.

Everyone's jaws had dropped when the hovercrafts floated over them. At first, everyone had panicked, believing they had been sent by the Capitol to finish off all the citizens of District Twelve who had managed to survive the bombing. But then a man had descended from the hovercraft, dropped down onto the ground. He was wearing a armband with a Mockingjay printed onto it. That didn't seem to be something a man from the Capitol would be wearing. And he hadn't fired at them, which also didn't seem like something someone from the Capitol would do.

Naturally, Gale, accompanied by Thom since his leg was still healing, represented the survivors of District Twelve and spoke to the man. He was called Boggs and he was President Coin's right hand man. President Coin was the president of District Thirteen they would soon learn. Soon there after, everyone was collected and they were off to District Thirteen.

Madge felt lightheaded as soon as the hovercraft ascended into the air, but Gale had sat beside her and had his arms around her. These past few days, he had been her savior. In all honesty, she didn't know if she would have been able to carry on through them without him. As she rocked back and forth within the night, fighting off dream after dream, Gale was always there, his arms tightening around her. The dreams were the worst part. She could almost accept her parents' and Connor's deaths, knowing that there was nothing she could have done to save them. It was the Capitol's fault, not hers. She knew these things, but that didn't stop the nightmares. Night after night, they returned. The fire consumed both her parents and then her dearest friend. They yelled her name, again and again, but Madge was nowhere to be found. She was already gone. Leaving them for dead. When she awoke, tears had already been staining Gale's shirt, and he was rubbing her back and whispering soothing words to her. He kissed away her tears, just as he had in the woods that day that felt like forever ago. But he looked at her as if he was giving every ounce of strength he had to stay strong for her, as if he was only moments away of breaking apart.

"Are you okay?" She asked, running her hands down his cheek and resting it on his chest.

He laughed, looking away into the distance, but returning his gaze back to her when he asked, "You're asking me if I'm okay when you're the one thrashing about in your sleep and crying rivers onto my shirt?"

"I am. You just look so sad, so broken. Is it about Katniss? Are you worried about Katniss?" If the Capitol had bombed District Twelve, with the obvious intention of killing every one of it's citizens, she could only imagine what they were willing to do to Katniss and the others who had obviously wrecked with the Hunger Games. What about the mentors? What would happen to Haymitch? Would they simply assume that he had had a hand in it as well? Madge wouldn't put it past him to actually have had a hand in it. After all, her mother had said that the Capitol had punished him for something he had done during his and her Aunt Maysilee's games. They hadkilled off his family as punishment. She had told him that he had stayed away from her in a romantic sense to protect her from them. But now what would they do to him? He would never know what happened to her mother. That the Capitol had done away with her as well, just like they had done with everyone else he had ever loved.

"It's not just her, it's you too," he wiped away any traces of tears left on her face, looking sadly at her face.

"Me? I'm right here," she reassured. She wasn't gone, her wearabouts unknown. She was right in front of him, wrapped up in his embrace.

"But you're slipping away. I can feel it. You're just so sad, and understandably so. You've lost everything you've ever known, well except for me, the rest of the Hawthorne clan and your guitar." His eyes moved toward the object lying next to them, a guitar case.

It had been in her hands when her mother had instructed her to leave, and it had just left with her. She hadn't even realized it was still in her hands, until she was halfway to the Seam and by that time it didn't really seem to matter anyway. It would always serve as a reminder of everyone she had loved and lost. Her mother had been the first person to introduce her to the beauty of music, not just teaching her how to play, but how to lose herself in the music as she had done after the death of her twin sister. But also her father, who always seemed to stick around to listen when she was playing, admiring the beauty his daughter created with just the touch of her fingertips. It was him who had given her the guitar, carefully crafted and beautiful. Maybe he had just done it to make up for the fact that he had sent Gale away, demanded he never see her again, but she didn't dwell on that anymore. She knew deep in her heart that the guitar wasn't just about that anyway. It was about his daughter's happiness. It even reminded her of Connor, who she had played for while he worked, singing softly to herself, as he worked hard crafting a chair or a dinner table. She remembered how he would look at her as she played, as if she were the most wonderful thing to enter his life, in fact he had told her as much.

They weighed heavily on her heart at times, and at other times their love made her heart soar. Knowing that they had loved her deeply. But they wouldn't want her to be like this, a shell of a person, but she couldn't help it. She just felt so broken, so lost without them.

"I love you, Gale." Her eyes met his. "Don't worry about me."

His eyes were just as unrelenting. "I love you too, Madge. I love you so much, and that's why this is tearing me apart," he looked away from her eyes, raking his eyes over the rest of her features, her long eyelashes, a dark gold, her flushed cheeks, stained red with dried tears, and her full lips, pursed. "I know what it's like to lose a parent, Madge. That much I know, but to lose both of them? Within the same day? Along with an ex-fianceé, I don't know what that's like. I can't begin to console you because I don't know where to start. You just cry all the time, and I want you too. I want you to cry as much as you want to if that makes you less sad. But… I don't like to see you like this. I know you're holding back a lot from me. Trying not to be a nuisance isn't exactly helping. I know you're hurting. Even if you didn't shed one tear, I'd know that you were hurting. It's just… I don't even know what I'm trying to get across. I want you to cry if that makes you feel better. I want you to scream if that makes you feel better. God, I just want you back. I don't want to lose the woman I love to this grief. I guess that's basically my bottom line." He touched his forehead to hers. "Every night this week you've woken me up, thrashing around in your sleep and every time you wake up we don't talk about it. You tell me you had a nightmare and that's where the conversation ends. I don't like that. I think you'll feel better if you talk about it and I'm here to listen. What wakes you up in the middle of the night?"

"I'm sorry Gale. I don't want to be like this, I just can't help it. Everything hurts. I'm so sorry," sobs began overtaking her, shaking her body. Gale held her against his chest, burying his head into her shoulder, breathing her in.

"You don't have to be sorry. I love you, and loving you means going through the good times and the bad times. All of that is worth it though. You are worth it, Madge Undersee. I just need to know what's plaguing your dreams. What's tearing you apart while you sleep, when I can't be there to protect you?"

She bit her lip. "I just dream about the bombing of District Twelve, but it's only them that I hear, calling my name over and over again. I smell their burning flesh. I hear their blood curdling screams yelling for me to save them, but I'm already gone Gale. I leave them for dead every single time. I abandon them to save myself. I was selfish, Gale. I shouldn't have listened to my mother. I should have gotten her, helped her to the Seam, and picked up my father from the Justice Building on the way, gotten Connor too. But I was too weak. They all needed me, and I left them. I only thought of myself. I'm a terrible daughter, a terrible friend."

Gale grabbed her face, holding it in his strong calloused hands, his gaze bored into hers. "You are none of those things. There was nothing you could have done. Your mother wanted you to go, to survive. She knew what was coming before it even happened. Something very bad was going to happen to the district and the Town was going to be hit the hardest. She wanted you furthest away from it. Your father would have wanted the same thing, Connor as well. He had only gone to your house to make sure you had gotten out safely. If he hadn't wasted his time saving me, then maybe he would still be alive too, or maybe he wouldn't. I will forever be thankful to him, for saving me. Hell, our first born's probably going to be named after that man. But I can't hold his death on my conscious, Madge. Maybe he would have gotten hit on the way to the Seam still, even if he hadn't seen me in your house trapped under that fallen beam and unconscious from the smoke. I don't know. But what I do know is that you would surely not be here if you had tried to save your parents and Connor. And all three of those people held your safety before theirs. That's what love is, Madge. Holding someone's life above yours, fighting for his or her safety even if it means risking your own. But you would have been going on a suicide mission, and none of them would have wanted that."

Gale's words rang in her mind still, days later. He was right. Logically, she knew that, but it didn't stop her guilt from rising up, like bile in her throat. Constantly, she swallowed just to keep it down, constantly keeping her guilt at bay.

Madge watched from the window as District Twelve grew smaller in the distance. It was still burning. Her parents were still burning. Connor was still burning. Maybe they always would be. Perhaps they would never get the chance to come back to their homes again. Everything she had known was gone and it was never coming back. Her throat tightened at the thought.

* * *

When the hovercraft arrived in what she could only assume was District Thirteen, Gale's hand was intertwined with hers, and he used his other hand to usher his family out of the metal flying room that they had been trapped in for the past few hours. They were led into elevators that descended underground, where the forgotten district was located. How clever, Madge had thought. Yes, how clever, they all were. They had escaped the wrath of the Capitol, leaving the rest of the districts to be punished while they flourished underground. It was quite despicable to her, but she held her tongue. They were taking in the District Twelve refugees, even though they had no loyalties to them, had no loyalties to any of the districts, only to themselves.

Each family was being checked in so they could be accounted for in the future and given adequate clothing and other commodities. Madge began to worry. What would happen to her? She had no family, after all. Was there a place for Madge? A place where all the other _orphaned_ children went?

The Hawthornes were next in line. Gale squeezed her hand, and mouthed, "it's going to be okay," to her. With Gale by her side, everything felt as if it might be. Even if she didn't get to live with them, she would still be within the district. She would still be close enough to visit them, sometimes… hopefully.

"Surname. Number of family members," the woman stated firmly. She looked very serious and stern in her all grey dress. It was disconcerting. You would think that they would have gotten someone a tad friendlier to deal with the refugees of a fallen district, not this cold, stone of a woman.

Gale spoke for his family. "Hawthorne and six." He stated confidently.

Madge smiled at him, she was included. But her surname wasn't Hawthorne, and it was pretty obvious that she wasn't part of their family. The stone woman noticed this as well.

"And you? You're not one of them," with her pen she gestured to Madge's blonde hair and fair skin.

"My last name is Undersee."

The woman shook her head, writing something down onto her clipboard.

"_Single_ girls go-" But Gale cut her off before she could continue.

"Well you see, she won't be an Undersee for long. We're engaged," he kissed the side of her head, as if to further prove his point.

Madge tried to look less shocked then she was feeling. She could tell that his family was trying to do their best to do the same. Hazelle had covered Posy's mouth to probably assure she didn't let anything slip that she wasn't supposed to in front of the stone woman.

"Engaged? Well then you two are going to the couple quarters." The woman murmured under her breath and began writing again on the clipboard, "Hawthorne, 4. Hawthorne, 2." She looked back up at them. "You'll be in adjacent wings to each other. No worries."

Another person in grey led them to their living quarters, this time a young man whose eyes ran down her figure. Taking in her torn dress, dirty from the ashes that had fallen all around her as she ran toward the Seam and the dirt that she had slept on and lived amongst. Madge further buried herself into Gale's side, wishing she could be absorbed into him.

Gale grabbed her shoulder protectively and growled at the man, "That's my future wife you're ogling."

The young man had the decency to look embarrassed and looked away. After giving them the keys to their room, he quickly walked away, his eyes downcast and didn't look back at them.

"What a creep," Gale muttered as he unlocked the door. He watched the young man's figure as he raced down the hall, further and further away from them.

It was a small room with white walls, very plain with absolutely no personality. It seemed exactly big enough for two people to live comfortably.

The door slammed as it closed behind them.

Madge turned around, now facing Gale with her hands on her hips. "We're engaged?"

* * *

**Gale is too smooth. **


	22. The Shower Scene

**Yay finally updating! I may get a little slow on the update considering I'm moving back to school and such, but I will try my hardest to stay on track. **

**Oh and requests are always welcome :).**

**Reviews are too!**

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Chapter Twenty-Two

"Okay…" The miner ran his fingers roughly through his hair before cradling his head in his hands. He began again, "Fuck." He groaned loudly. "Alright," with that he stood walking toward the blonde standing in the center of the room, grabbing her much smaller hands in his. "This situation we're in is really crazy, right?"

Madge nodded.

"I mean here we are in fucking District Thirteen, which isn't even supposed to exist as far as we're concerned… Half of our district is gone. The place we called home is gone too. We have nothing now, other than what this district gives us out of charity." Gale dropped her hands for a moment to wipe the sweat off of his palms and then returned the dirt-covered hands back to hers. "This whole thing is unstable. There is basically nothing stable in our lives beside each other now." The blonde's eyes bore into his, clutching his hands tightly. "So is it so wrong for me to want something stable in my life and in yours?" He paused for a second, before gaining his momentum again. "You're this steady rock in my life. I love you so much and right about now that's one of the only things I know I can depend on to not change. I can rely on it to grow everyday we're together and just like clockwork it does. If nothing works out well in this godforsaken place, I know that I still have you. We will _always_ work out, no matter what situation we're put in."

"In the beginning, I just said it because I didn't want you to be alone and separated from us, but the more and more I thought about it the more I realized that that wasn't the only reason. Yes, I didn't want you to be separated from us and even though we're not married, for all intents and purposes you are a Hawthorne Madge.

I want to wake up to you every morning and go to sleep beside you every night. You mean _everything_ to me. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you and I know we're really young, so that doesn't mean we have to get married right away and actually I really do not want to get married underground, but I just kept thinking that's my _girlfriend? _Girlfriend just sounds like so little for what you are to me and even fiancée isn't exactly there yet, but at least it's a step in the right direction-"

Madge cut him off by pressing her lips to his. After the initial shock of being interrupted after what had become rambling, Gale responded accordingly.

"So what does this mean?" He asked pressing his forehead to hers.

"I think it means yes!" The blonde clasped her hands around his neck.

"Yes? Yes?! Yes! She said yes!" He shouted to the ceiling while embracing her. "I have something for you."

He stepped back, digging deeply into the front pocket of his pants. "Here." He pressed a silver bracelet into her palm. "It was my mother's. My father gave it to her as their engagement present since he couldn't afford a ring and sorry it's silver, but mining doesn't exactly give you enough money to afford gold."

The piece of jewelry was beautiful. It was designed to look like a rope with different sized chains of silver all woven together.

"It's supposed to look like rope, y'know, because my dad's specialty was snares. He liked to say it was a physical representation of the fact that he had "ensnared" her. It's kind of cheesy I know."

With tears brimming her eyes Madge looked up to meet Gale's eyes. "It's absolutely perfect. I love it." She buried her head in Gale's chest before looking up. "And it's not cheesy at all. You Hawthorne men, the whole lot of you are some hopeless romantics."

Gale grinned. "Well we can't help it. How can I not shower you with affection when you're so- You're so amazing." The much taller man, kissed her forehead. "We have to tell everyone! Now!" He made his way over to the door before Madge caught his arm.

"Can't we shower first? We both smell disgusting."

Gale stopped abruptly. "Oh. Yeah. I guess that would be okay." He motioned toward the bathroom in the corner of the room. "You can go first."

Madge bit her lip and nervously twisted the hem of her dress. "Uhm- I was wondering- I was wondering if maybe you would want to join me?"

His head shot toward her with an impressive speed. "Join you? Like in the shower? Us two?"

She hung her head. "Never mind, forget I said anything." Her cheeks were burning from embarrassment.

"No! Oh God, I didn't mean it like that. I meant that- I don't know that I meant exactly, but I was just a little surprised. I mean last time I saw you in just your underwear you freaked out at me."

Madge shrug her shoulders. "I don't know. I kind of want to see you." She mumbled the last part.

"What?" He asked, stepping toward her.

"I want to see you."

"Like naked?" He asked smirking.

"Oh God. I repeat, forget I said anything."

Gale grabbed her arm as she tried to get away. "If you wanted to see that then all you had to do was ask," and with that he was already walking toward the door of the bathroom.

All Madge could do was stare as the steam floated from the open bathroom door.

"C'mon Madge, the water's great!"

Madge swallowed nervously before entering the bathroom. She could make out his silhouette from behind the white shower curtain. His strong jaw. His well-built arms that were above his head, presumably washing his hair. Down to the curve where his back met his incredibly cute butt. She breathed in slowly. Her hands met at the center of her chest to unbutton her dress. It fell to the floor. They reached behind her to unclasp her bra and it accompanied her dress and the rest of Gale's discarded clothes on the ground. Finally, they reached the final piece of clothing and it was left on the ground.

Her hand reached up to pull back the thin barrier separating her very naked self from her also very naked fianceé.

His back was turned to her when she entered the bathtub. A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes moved over the muscles that been hidden in plain view under his shirts. He was beautiful. Her hand outstretched to touch them, but she held back. She didn't really know what to do now. _What had she expected out of this?_

Not long after she had that though did Gale turn around to face her.

His hands were on her sides, running up and down.

Her breath hitched at the warmth.

"Here. Switch spots with me, so you can get cleaned off." Gale's hands guided her to under the warm spray of water.

"You're beautiful." Madge tried to keep her focus on his face, but with the water continuously getting in her eyes it was a hard task.

"Me?" He asked running his hands over her body. At first they had lingered on her sides, but then one had moved onto her stomach while the other ran up her back toward her neck where it stayed.

She nodded.

"I could spend all day worshipping this exquisite body of yours Madge." The hand that had previously been on her stomach was now grabbing her hand. His head came down to kiss the inside of her wrist. "I think my goal is to kiss every inch of your body. How does that sound to you?"

She was speechless, so she nodded instead.

His lips trailed over to her fingers and he kissed her fingertips. Her breaths were becoming ragged. She didn't think that something kisses so innocent could drive her so wild, but they had proven to do exactly that. The softness of his lips was the only thing on her mind. He trailed featherweight kisses on her arm until he reached her neck where he lingered there lightly sucking on the sensitive flesh.

"God Madge, you have no idea just how crazy you make me, do you?"

The blonde shook her head. It couldn't possibly as crazy as he was making her at the moment.

With one hand behind her neck and the other cradling her cheek he leaned down finally to capture her lips with his own. Their lips moved in unison as Gale pressed her against the cool tile of the bathroom wall. She could feel his hard length against her stomach as their bodies grew closer. It took everything in her to not break away from the kiss just to look down at it. It was just so hard. She marveled at the fact that it was just a few vessels filled with blood because it felt like bone to her.

Gale moved away from her, but not before peppering kisses all over her face. He looked down at his length and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm uh- I'm sorry about that."

Madge looked down toward the spot in question. Her hands ached to reach out and touch it. She was just so curious. Absentmindedly her hand reached out to make contact with it, but not before Gale's hand grabbed her wrist.

"I'm s-sorry, but if you touch it in the state I'm in and in the state you're in I won't be able to control myself."

She smiled at him, her cheeks tinged pink. "Maybe another time?"

Gale grinned. "Definitely another time." He turned back toward the shower curtain. "I think I'm going to let you finish showering in peace."

He left, leaving her only with a chaste kiss on the lips.

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**Thanks for reading!**


	23. This Bitter Pill

**I'm not dead! Sorry, college sucks and takes up way too much of my time. I've been wondering what parts of Catching Fire, as in Gale/Katniss parts are you guys dying for Madge to have to endure. As I remember they basically spend most of their time together before Peeta comes back into the equation.**

**Sorry for the wait! **

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome and adored!**

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Chapter Twenty-Three

With a grey towel wrapped around her torso, Madge left the steam-filled bathroom to find Gale sitting on their _grey_ bed wearing his new _grey_ district-issued clothes. Couldn't they have picked something more colorful than grey? They were already living underground, in a world free of any of the color given by the natural world. Couldn't they have at least artificially created some of it through their clothing? For an undesignated amount of time they were expected to live in this dismal underworld? Madge was unaware of how she was going to keep her sanity under these conditions.

In her district-issued bag Madge found three pairs of grey pants, three grey shirts, along with three nude colored bras and three nude colored panties. She told herself that at least the nude was a much-needed change from grey. She dressed in the bathroom. Despite the fact that she and Gale had already seen each other, she wasn't exactly comfortable being the only one exposed in his presence just yet.

A loud knock reverberated throughout the compact apartment. Gale looked over towards Madge who was standing, towel drying her hair in the bathroom's doorway. Maybe it was another welcome wagon to District Thirteen? Madge didn't think so though.

Madge heard a man with a gruff voice yell "Hawthorne!" as he pushed his way into their apartment.

He stopped when his gaze met Madge's. "Madge? What are you doing here?" He asked before he stopped, suddenly examining the wet hair falling into Gale's face that almost perfectly matched the wetness of Madge's wet hair. "You didn't." He turned his face to glare at Gale. "You don't touch her!" Madge ran toward the older man, running in front of her still injured fiancée.

"Stop! He didn't do anything. _We_ didn't do anything." She grabbed the man's shoulders, forcing his gaze to meet hers.

Without notice he grabbed Madge's wrist, the one wearing Hazelle's engagement gift. "This belonged to your mother." He shot a look to Gale. "Your father gave it to her when they got engaged. I remember."

Gale paused, taking a breath. "Yes. I know."

"Y-You're engaged?"

Madge let go of Haymitch's shoulders and walked toward her fiancée, taking his hand in hers. "Yes, it just happened actually within the last hour."

"So you guys plan on getting married down here? In this hellhole? I know your mother wanted you to get married young so she could be there, but I don't think this was exactly her idea."

"Actually we plan on getting married after the revolution I'm sure you're spearheading, but it wouldn't really matter where we got married as long as it's to each other." She paused, the hurt of her parents' recent death springing up on her. "They knew I loved Gale and that Gale loved me. He makes me happy and that's all they cared about."

The older man took a breath. "Knew?" Madge could tell that he hadn't realized that with the bombing of district twelve, the probability that the love of his youth probably wouldn't make it out was extremely slim.

A look of pain overtook Madge's face and Gale grabbed her in his arms. She turned to look at Haymitch from his arms. "S-She didn't make it out."

Haymitch's face contorted. "Goddamnit." He muttered underneath his breath, along with a string of swears aimed toward the Capitol that she was sure her mother wouldn't have liked for him to be saying in her presence. He quickly pulled a metal flask out from the inside of his jacket and took a swig. "Gale, we need you out there. You're the only one close enough to Katniss to tell her what happened to District Twelve. It has to be you." He nodded taking his orders just as any other solider would. "But don't tell her about you guys, not yet." Gale cringed but nodded. Madge, on the other hand, was taken for a tailspin. Why did she have to keep her news silent? It shouldn't matter in the first place. Katniss knew that Gale and she had a relationship and she was in love with Peeta anyway. It wasn't as if they would be flaunting their relationship in front of her, they would never do that. But why should she have to keep her happiness caged? They should be allowed to take whatever happiness they could in this underground graves? Far away from the joys of the surface?

Madge crossed her arms over her chest, but said nothing. She would discuss this with Gale at night and perhaps discuss that decision further with Haymitch in the morning.

Haymitch lead them to two separate rooms. Gale was sent into the room that Madge assume Katniss was in, while she followed Haymitch into an adjoining room that allowed them to see into the room Katniss was in with Gale.

"Are you okay?" The older man asked touching her elbow.

Madge looked over at him and could see the hurt in his eyes. "I'm okay. The Hawthornes helped me through the worst of it."

"The Hawthornes eh? So you and Gale together forever?"

Madge smiled over at the gruff man. "Well, that's the plan at least. Though I have a suspicion that you're going to convince him to fight for the Mockingjay Militia, isn't that right?"

Haymitch nodded, though a small one. "I know you don't want him to go, but-"

The blonde interrupted him. "Obviously, I don't want to endanger my fiancée, but I know he believes in this cause, as do I."

The older man's face broke out into a grin. "You're so much like her. It's ridiculous." His eyes ran over the details of her face before looking into her eyes again. "She always said you were more like Maysilee, but I can't say I agree." His sad eyes drifted off into the glass, to where his attention should have been.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well because Maysilee…" The man paused, overcome with despair, before continuing. "Well Maysilee sort of loved when I pulled her leg. She could match me toe for toe, but your mother. Maddie on the other hand couldn't stand me, at least not at first. She only put up with me because she felt like she owed me something for helping May. But when we got down to talking, it seemed like everything I said ended up with your mother almost refusing to ever see me again. Even if I just said, "Pretty dress," your mother was just about ready to slap the daylights out of me. Now when I said that to your aunt she just laughed and told me how much I resembled a monkey in the suit they put me in. It took awhile, but eventually Maddie loosened up and realized I was just joshing with her. That's when I really started falling for her…" He looked over at Madge, a grin on his face. "That woman could talk your ear off and about anything too. It didn't even have to be something relevant or anything like that. Once, I took her out to the Seam, because she'd always been curious and I kind of wanted her to see that there was some beauty out there in the sticks. So I took her to a dance, a real night down in the Seam. I figured these were _musicians_ and she liked to dance so why not? I figured she'd like it. I never imagined just how much she would love it. God, she talked about that night every minute until I was able to take her again the next weekend. That woman. She drove me up a wall and do you know what the craziest thing was?"

Madge shook her head.

"I loved every minute of it." For a moment it looked like Haymitch was in a deep reverie, forgetting that Madge was even standing next to him. He shook his head, most likely shaking the thoughts from his mind for the moment as well.

"Haymitch?" The man turned to face her.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we could do this again? Talk about her? You know so much more about her that I think anyone did."

"I'd like that."

They both stopped, directing their attention to the scene unfolding in front of them. Katniss in Gale's arms, shock written all over her face. They both turn, suddenly feeling intrusive on this very private moment between best friends.

"Where's Peeta?" Madge's mind suddenly floated to thoughts of the boy who walked with her to school as a young child and who always smiled when she entered his family's bakery.

If it was even possible, the man's face fell even further. "He didn't make it out… W-We didn't get to him in time."

"What does that mean? What happened to him? Is he okay?"

"I-We don't know. They have him. They have him, Johanna and Annie. We don't know what they plan on doing to them."

Her heart sunk. She could imagine what they planned on doing to them and the thoughts almost caused her to expel the contents of her stomach onto Haymitch's shoes. It just wasn't fair.

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**A million thank yous!**


	24. Conversations

**It's been so long since I've updated so here's just a little something while I figure out what's to happen the next chapter. I should be updating fairly soon. :) thanks for sticking around!**

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Chapter Twenty-Four

The silk felt soothing and comforting running between her fingers. When she brought the fabric up to her nose she couldn't smell her mother's scent anymore, but she could at least smell the scent of home, of smoke and dirt. It was comforting in a way, not as comforting as her mother's scent would have been, but any reminder of home was something.

Gale sat himself besides her, placing his hand on her thigh, rubbing his thumb sideways on the coarse material of her district-issued pants.

"We've lost a lot haven't we?" She asked never looking up from the smooth fabric in her hands. Her hands began to trace the floral pattern of the scarf. The action pacified her. As a girl she remembered her mother doing the same thing whenever she was nervous or unsure of herself.

Gale looked up, his grey eyes meeting hers. "Some more than others," he replied leaning in to place his head on her shoulder.

"How long did it take you before you were finally okay with your father's death, Gale?"

Gale paused, taking his hand off of her thigh and linking it with her tracing hand instead. "I don't think I ever really got over it; I still think about him all the time." He sighed. "Do you believe in Heaven, Madge?" His other arm went around her waist, bringing her closer to him. She could feel his warmth through the thin material of their shirts. It was something she could always count on. Gale's warm body, sometimes she swore his temperature ran a few degrees hotter than normal. On cold nights, he was practically a radiator.

"I don't think I would like to be living in a world where there wasn't an afterlife if that's what you mean."

The young man laughed. "Well that's sort of what I mean. It's a lot easier to accept losing a loved one when you think that they're in a better place, looking out for you there." She could feel him smiling against her throat. "For some reason, every single time I imagine him I see him up there sitting in his favorite chair with a bar of chocolate." He laughed again. "My father loved chocolate, but we couldn't afford it except for maybe once a year, and even when that happened he shared most of it with me and Rory, and then Vick too once he came along. Now tell me how you imagine your parents and Connor? What would they like to spend eternity doing?"

"Hmm… Well I imagine that my mother is finally able to knit. She used to love knitting when she was doing well enough, on her better days she could make a sweater in just a few days. She'd make sweaters for everyone. And my father, well he loved to read. I just imagine him lying on the couch, book in hand. But Connor is sort of hard. He loved his job, so maybe I could imagine him making furniture, but he really did love listening to me play, so I can kind of imagine him just listening to someone play for him, maybe while he's working." She turned to look at Gale. "It wasn't ever really work for him though. He just loved it, but I think he was happier when I was there to play for him. He really liked that. It kind of gave him this rhythm to work to. It was nice. Really nice. I never really had to try really hard with Connor. He was happy just to be with me there, me playing and him working."

Gale smiled. "You know he probably just liked watching you play."

"No!" She cried out laughing, pushing him off of her.

"Madge, the boy was head over heels for you, not that I can blame him. It didn't take me much either." He smirked, pressing his forehead against hers. "You don't know how lucky I am to be with you."

Madge grinned. "Probably about as lucky as I am to be with you."

The older boy laughed. "Maybe I should show you how much I appreciate being with you." Madge nodded.

"Oh yes, show me."

He moved his forehead off of hers and settled his head into the space where her head met her shoulders. He kissed the edge of her jaw. "I don't think I've ever kissed you here. What do you think?"

Madge shook her head.

Gale trailed his lips toward her ear. "What about here?" He whispered.

Madge was about to answer when a knock resonated through the quiet room.

Gale groaned and moved to answer it but not before he pecking her on the lips.

It was Katniss, who looked far more ragged than Madge could ever remember seeing her. Madge understood. She wasn't feeling all too hot either without the ones she loved, except at least she knew her parents were gone. Peeta was in the possession of the Capitol and was at their mercy, not that they were known for having any.

"Haymitch wants to see you," she muttered.

Gale nodded, silently walking out the door after kissing his fiancée goodbye. "I love you," he whispered along the side of her head. He nodded a goodbye toward his friend on his way out.

"It's kind of weird to see him with you," Katniss murmured sitting in Gale's spot next to Madge on the bed. Madge braced herself for a negative comment to escape the brunette's lips. "He's never really cared too much about the girls he was with, but you, well he _loves_ you, like really _loves_ you. I'm glad he's with you, you two are really good for each other." Her voice saddened Madge, who could only imagine what it would be like to be without Gale.

Madge smiled at her friend, her fingers absent-mindedly fingering the bracelet on her wrist. She was thankful that Katniss was too distraught with her own problems to notice the bracelet. She didn't like to lie to her best friend, but that's what Haymitch thought was best and he had been seeing more of her than she had. "They're going to find him, Kat. I just know they will and when they do you're going to be the first person he'll want to see."

She gave Madge a half-hearted smile. "I love him y'know?"

"We know."

"It took me so long to realize it was him. It was always him. I've never had a choice in the matter. It will always be him. He's just so good."

The blonde placed her hand on top of her friend's. "You're good too Katniss."

The end of her mouth curved upwards for a fragment of a second. "I'm sorry about your parents and Connor." She squeezed Madge's hand.

"Y'know, I still have no idea what to say to that."

"I didn't either. I think a polite smile is always a good way to go… Do you want to get out of here?"

Madge nodded getting up and wiping her hands on her pants. "I really hate the clothes they gave us. As if this place isn't dreary enough they have to give out grey clothes."

Katniss laughed softly. "I'm not much of a clothes person, but even I can't help but agree. The brightest color I've seen in here is your eyes." Her eyes were downcast and Madge rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her. Madge happened to have the same color eyes as the boy who Katniss loved.

"They're going to get him, Katniss. Don't worry. It's just a strategy to get to you. They know he's your weakness. They know that seeing him like that, seeing him in their clutches will get to you." By this point Katniss had slumped against the wall, before she let herself fall to a sitting position on the cold concrete ground. Madge sat next to her, wrapping her arm around Katniss's shoulders.

"Did you see him? His eyes looked so cold, so distant. He's not the same boy anymore. They've changed him. They've turned him into something else. Some kind of weapon perfectly designed to break me. That's what they've always tried to do. Break me. Like in the first games when they gave the wolf muttations the eyes of the dead tributes. They knew I'd notice. That I'd see Rue's eyes attacking me. In the Quarter Quell too, they made sure I'd hear Prim and Gale dying and hurting. They knew I wouldn't be able to handle it and I couldn't Madge! You saw me, just a few tricks and I'm cowered on the ground! They know my brain better than I do. They know how to tear me apart from the insides. This is worse than death, Madge. This not knowing. Knowing that they're torturing him, but not knowing how they're doing it and whether it will ever stop. They could torture him for the rest of his life, just keep him inches from death the rest of his life."

Madge felt her friend's hot tears seeping through the thin shirt. She ran her hands over Katniss's hair, smoothing it down. "You can't think like that. They haven't broken you, Kat. You're so strong. You're the strongest person I know. You haven't let them beat you. You can't let them beat you. You have to be strong for all of us. All of us who love you. We couldn't bear losing you. And when Peeta comes back he's going to need you. I know it hurts. Oh God, I know it hurts. They've taken my whole family. You have to stay strong, because they're going to get what's coming to them, Katniss and when they do we need to be the ones there for the reckoning. You have to believe that he's going to come back to you. He loves you so much. He'll come back for you."

Katniss laid her head on her friend's shoulder.

"We should probably be getting back." Madge nodded getting up first to offer Katniss her hand.

"I'll walk you to your room; I need to stop by the Hawthorne's."

They walked back to the Everdeen room, arm in arm. At times Madge closed her eyes and tried to focus and give all her strength to Katniss, who was in dire need of it. They were too young. She was too young to be an orphan and Katniss was too young to have the world on her shoulders all without the help of her saving grace, Peeta Mellark. It was a lot to put on two young women, but they were strong and they could handle almost anything that was thrown at them. Almost everything they'd find out.

"Madge?" Katniss asked right as Madge had turned to leave.

The blonde turned around. "Yes?"

"Would you like to go with me to District Twelve tomorrow? I understand if it's too hard for you, it's going to hard for me too. I just have to see it, you know?" She proceeded to bite her fingernails.

Madge nodded, she too had longed to see the wrecked district she had once had called home. Where she had learned how to walk and talk and play piano. Where she had fell in love with Gale. Where every significant thing that had ever happened to her had occurred. "I'll go."

Katniss smiled. "Thanks," and turned to open the door.

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**Reviews are always appreciated!**


	25. Someone You Admire

**Yay for updates after a million years! I know I take forever on this story, I just haven't been feeling it, but I am starting to get into it. I just find it kind of annoying that I have to take out the books and go over things to stay true to the timeline. I may just give up on that pipedream and go from memory if no one minds. **

**Thanks for sticking around!**

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Chapter Twenty-Five

All she did was play her guitar since they had arrived in District Thirteen.

It was both good and bad.

It was good because he liked to see her play and for the most part it made her happy or at least took her on the road to being happy. She was hanging out with Thom too whenever Gale wasn't available; he was still teaching her and for that Gale was grateful. It kept her preoccupied.

On the other hand, it was bad because sometimes it meant that she was upset and how commonly she was playing it meant that she was really upset, more upset that he'd ever known her to be, and he couldn't blame her, not in the least. If the tables were turned he had no idea what he'd do. When he had lost his father, he had no choice but to keep himself together to hunt for food for his family. But if he had been here? With all the time to stew and go over each and every fact? He'd probably be going crazy. It was a miracle she was still fully functioning. Since their time in the woods, she hadn't spent a single day in bed. She kept herself busy, and Gale guessed that was good.

Sometimes when they slept, he'd wake up to her stifled cries. It broke him up inside. He knew that she wasn't going to get over it in a few days, but that didn't mean it didn't break his heart, especially that she was trying to hide it. She didn't need to hide from him and it really hurt him that she thought she needed it to. After he and his family supported her in the woods he thought that she'd know that it was okay to let her feelings show.

He knew what she was going through as well! He'd lost his father. He knew the loss of a parent. That much he knew.

And he didn't know what it was like to be without everything that you once knew, without the comfort of your home, and without both of your parents. It hurt him because he couldn't fathom what it would be like to be without his mother and his siblings. They were a part of her family too now.

Didn't she realize that? They were engaged. In time she'd be a Hawthorne, hell Gale and the rest of his family basically considered her family. His siblings all thought of her as a sister, minus the fact that Rory and Vick were sort of in love with her. Hell, he couldn't blame them for that. She was a sight for sore eyes. Completely gorgeous, and utterly unaware of the fact.

These were the thoughts going through his head as he watched her from the doorway of their compact apartment. She hadn't noticed his presence as of yet, and he was glad of it. He liked watching her when she didn't know he was doing so. Her hair was pulled away from her face in a high ponytail. It looked strange to him without the ribbon she was known for. The shorter pieces of her hair were out of her ponytail and were framing her delicate face. God, She was a sight to behold. But her eyes were shut and that's how he knew she was upset. Her eyes were always upset when she was trying to send bad thoughts away from her mind.

He walked in front of her, on one knee, waiting to see how long it would take for her to notice he was in front of her. He could see how translucent her eyelids were from here, the blue veins standing out against her lily-white skin.

He hated to see her in the clothes given to them by the district. He wanted to see her in colorful dresses with ribbons in her hair and a smile on her face Not like this. Never like this. Dull grey clothing, eyes shut, trying to hide from the world around her.

Suddenly blue was the only thing he could see, those beautiful sky blue eyes.

"Hi," she murmured, obviously embarrassed that he'd caught her in a private moment without her knowing.

"Hello my beautiful fiancé," he replied bringing his lips down upon hers.

"You weren't supposed to catch me playing," she admitted a dark crimson on her cheeks. Gale placed his hands on her bare thighs, only now noticing that she wasn't wearing pants.

No, she was wearing her tan issue-given underwear along with a grey t-shirt.

_His_ grey t-shirt.

Goddamn she was sexy and he never ceased to be baffled by the fact that she wasn't even trying and she was driving him crazy.

She leaned to the side to put her guitar away in its case; the t-shirt riding up showing the smooth skin of her lower back. When she finished, she looked deeply into Gale's eyes, a hand caressing the stubble on his face. "I like it."

Gale smiled, kissing the palm of her hand that was on his face. "Do you really?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I would like to see you with a full beard actually. I think you'd look quite handsome, rugged."

The hunter chuckled, "I'm not rugged enough for you now, eh?"

The blonde giggled, "No you're rugged enough but I'd like to see you with a beard, I've never kissed a man with a beard."

Gale tipped his head, considering the idea. He knew he could grow a beard, but his mother always hated seeing his facial hair grow out. "Well I don't want you finding out what that's like from someone else, so I'll do it, for you." he placed a lingering kiss on her lips. He leaned forward, his hands on her hips to pick her up, dragging her toward the head of the bed. Her laughter filled the air. He leaned over her, peppering kisses all over her face.

She gasped in delight. "Gale! Stop! Stop! Your stubble's tickling me!"

A grin lit up his face as he looked down at her. "You're beautiful."

Her face scrunched up in distaste. "Me? No. But you," her finger came up to outline the edge of his jaw. "You're just gorgeous. Gorgeous Gale." She tipped her head thoughtfully. "You're the one who had girls watching your every movement, at your beck and call."

Gale guffawed. "Beck and call? Really? Hardly. I'm a guy and guys talk. I've heard a _lot_ about you missy."

Madge's jaw dropped. "Like what?"

He smirked, "Well you may not have shown much interest in many boys, but let me tell you they _all_ showed an interest in you."

The blonde laughed as Gale flipped their positions, so Madge could lay her head on his chest.

They were surrounded by a comfortable silence and he planted a kiss on her forehead. "Can I ask you something and you have to promise me that you won't get upset?"

Madge sat up, looking into his eyes. "What?"

Gale followed her lead and sat up alongside her, taking her hands into his. "You didn't promise."

"Well I can't promise something that I haven't heard yet. C'mon. Just tell me. I'll try to minimize how upset I am if it comes down to that."

He was biting his bottom lip. "Okay," he started, obviously nervous. "I don't think you should come with me and Katniss tomorrow. I don't think you're ready for it." He exhaled deeply.

Gale watched closely as her eyes hardened and she let go of his hand. "I'm not ready? I was there while it happened!" She laughed without a touch of humor. "You just think I'm a little delicate doll, well I'm not. I already told Katniss that I was going and I'm not going to go back on my word because _you_ think I'm too soft to handle anything. Oh poor Madge! Her ex-fiancée died! Oh poor Madge, she's an orphan!" Tears were streaming down her face, and she wasn't attempting to hide them in any way. "I didn't think you'd be standing right alongside the rest of them pitying me." She stood, shaking off his attempts to grab her. "Oh no! Go tell everyone Madge's crying! She can't handle anything!" She grabbed her grey pants, shimmying into them and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

The shaken man stood, walking toward the shut door. "Madge," he stated calmly knocking. "Madge answer me."

"Leave me alone!" She called out, sniffling.

"No I won't. I'll wait outside all night if I have to."

He heard no answer, just the sound of her sobs.

"Please Madge. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Please just come out here so we can talk. I don't like talking to pine."

He heard running water.

He started again. "I don't think you're weak. You are the most graceful person I know under pressure and stress."

The water stopped and there was silence. The door opened, revealing his petite beauty. "Do you really think that?"

Gale nodded, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't know how you're handling everything so well. I can't even imagine." He released her, but kept his hands on her shoulders. "You're so strong. I just don't want you to go on this expedition with us if it's going to cause you any unnecessary pain. You've had enough of that for a hundred lifetimes. I know you told Katniss that you would go for moral support, but she'll understand if it's too much for you." He kissed her on the forehead. "It's different going through it, with all that adrenaline running through your veins and seeing it without all of that. See your home still burning."

She nodded into his chest. "I know. I've thought about it. It's just that I dream about it all the time. Dream that they're buried alive under all those ashes waiting for me to rescue them."

Gale looked at her, the sadness evident in his eyes. "Madge, that's not going to-"

She cut him off before he finished his sentence. "I know. I know. I just don't think those dreams will stop until I see it with my own two eyes. See what's left of it all."

"Okay," he let out a sigh of defeat. "But promise me you'll let me go along with you."

Madge looked up at him, a small smile on her face, "I promise."

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**Next chapter should be fun-ish. Personally I'm most excited for Peeta's return. I have a lot planned for his arrival! :D**

**Review please, it'll shorten the delays between chapters I promise!**


	26. Take

**Warning if there's not things that are canon I left the books at my apartment, and didn't want to wait until after break to update. Also, I'm lazy. **

**Enjoy! **

**Review please!**

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Chapter Twenty-Six

They warned her, but the warnings fell on deaf ears. Things never turned out the way you imagine them anyway. They're either worse than you imagined, as was the case at the moment or they are a lot better than you imagined, which is what she had hoped for. She hadn't imagined it would look like this. The Seam was still on fire, she assumed to make sure everyone in the district was taken care of. The fire lit the sky, burning a hell of a lot brighter than the sun. The flames that had burned the Town had long since stopped, but that was most likely because it had burned first; the reason why so many of its inhabitants hadn't made it out other than herself and Delly Cartwright.

District Thirteen had given her a pair of boots for this excursion, but they were promptly due for returning as soon as she arrived. She cursed the stupid district. It was like Soviet Russia in there.

Even with the smoke-filled air, it felt better to be breathing the air of the fallen district than what the recycled air in that hole in the ground that was better suited for a mole.

She had been standing in front of the dilapidated mayor's mansion for the last fifteen minutes, the remains of her home. Now she was homeless, as were all the refugees of District Twelve. They were all in pain, some more than others. On her worst days, she lashed out at Gale when he expressed his pain for the loss of his home, at least he had his family. She had nothing, had no one. The thoughts were on replay in her mind when the darkness within her felt like it could swallow her whole.

Vaguely, she could feel a hand on her shoulder, most likely Gale's, but she shrugged it off when she stepped forward.

Her breathing was ragged and it was worrying him. Maybe this was too much for her. Too much too soon. His hand dropped from its place on her shoulder.

She turned, eyeing him. "I'm going to go in." He walked toward her, following, but she stuck out her hand, stopping him. "Alone." He could see his own reflection in her dull blue eyes. He looked hurt and shocked. She answered before he could reply. "There are some adventures we have to face on our own. This is mine. You can't protect me from everything and everyone. I've told you that before."

He hung his head. "I know, I just- I love you and I want to be there for you all the time, even when you don't want me to."

She nodded, stepping over rubble to reach him. She wrapped her arms around his middle. Murmurs escaped her mouth and vibrated through his thin jacket into his chest. "I'm strong though, right?" The much smaller girl looked up at him, eyes imploring.

He nodded. "The strongest, but the strongest people can admit when they need someone by their side. It doesn't make you any less strong."

Madge backed away from him, allowing herself to look into his eyes. "I need to do this for myself and by myself."

Gale watched as she raised herself onto her tippy toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaned into him. He braced himself for what was to follow. "You are my strength, my love." She whispered the words against his mouth, you're your strength- it follows me everywhere I go."

"But I can go. You just won't let me. Please let me go."

She smiled. "I'll be okay."

He nodded, pressing his lips to hers. "I'll be here if you need me."

"Five minutes." She put up her hand in emphasis, "just five minutes," pointing to each and every finger, "my sentry." She said it with such adoration.

"Sentry?" Gale asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

"My guard, always watching out for me."

He grinned down at her, picking her up in his arms. "Oh yes. I'll always watch out for my princess." He placed her on the ground. "Now you have five minutes, your highness," he said, slapping her on her backside, sending her on her way. The sooner she went in, the sooner she came out.

Madge treaded slowly through the rubble and burned remains of her house. It looked nothing like the building that made up most of her memories. Everything charred, like many of the dishes she attempted to cook as a young girl.

She just needed to see it. There was nothing to salvage, she knew that much.

Her piano, her getaway, her source of escape was in a pile of ashes and rubble now. All of the memories attached to it rushed to her, her mother, on her good days, sitting with her, listening and softly humming to the music, her father listening as she practiced her scales each morning before school as he read the Capitol-sent newspapers, Connor, who loved to hear any music that came out of her. These were the people she had lost, some of the people she had loved the most. Gone.

She took her time walking out, despite the fact that she had gone over her five minutes. Gale had his back to her when she exited her, well it wasn't exactly her home anymore, when she exited her past home, that sounded okay to her. Madge hugged him from behind, resting her head against the hard planes that made up his back. He was shaking, his head hung low. She moved to face him.

"Gale, what's wrong?" Tears were brimming his eyes, and his body was shaking, as if the act of fighting tears took the effort of his entire body. His eyes looked off into the distance, toward the Seam, most of the already worn houses were in ashes, the bomb's fires finding anything and everything to devour in the district, mostly the abandoned hopes and dreams of its citizens.

"Just look," his eyes flickered toward the fires, "Look at what they did to us, to our homes, our people, our memories." He embraced her, burying his face in her neck, "what they almost did to you."

Madge rubbed his back, gently, making sure not to disturb the old wounds. She could feel the bumps made by the scars.

Gale took a few minutes, holding her tightly to him. He knew he was selfish, but the most upsetting idea was that Madge could've been here, buried underneath rubble, burned alive. The true girl on fire.

He couldn't lose her. She was everything to him. In his nightmares, she did die, and he watched her house burn to the ground and he spent he'd spend his entire life trying to find a way to get her out and he failed each and every time. Then he'd spend the rest of the nightmare living without her, dying a bachelor, alone. No one could fill the void her death would cause. He knew that. She was the only one for him, his soulmate.

It wasn't only about her though. They took the last physical remains of his father, all burned away. He could no longer look at the home he had shared with his father before he passed, or step into the woods, repeating the actions his father had taught him in order to survive and provide for their family. They had taken that from him long before the bombing.

It was just like before, they took and took until there was nothing left.

"Gale?" He heard her soft voice whisper. He moved away from her, taking her in, from her blonde hair thrown up in a ponytail to her soot covered clothing, so pain-stakingly beautiful. "We have to get out of here." He nodded, grabbing her hand.

They walked toward the Everdeen's. Katniss was outside and it didn't look like she had taken a step inside the pristine house. They all knew it was done on purpose, to drive the point straight into Katniss's heart. This is your fault, your doing.

Madge dropped Gale's hand, taking a step toward Katniss. She knew the quiet girl wasn't much for physical contact, but at this particular moment Madge didn't care she looked like she needed it. Madge wrapped her arms around her. Katniss stilled, before relenting to the embrace.

"Just go in, grab what you need and we can go back. We can go in with you."

Katniss nodded and the trio entered the immaculate victor's mansion. The brunette made a beeline to retrieve her father's hunting jacket, beaten and well-loved. Madge grabbed Gale's hand, knowing the action reminded him that their was nothing left behind for him to bring back other than memories.

Madge heard a scuffling in the adjoining room and left the two best friends behind to see what it was. Behind a table, a semi-orange ball of fur was curled into itself. From her few trips to the Everdeen's Madge knew the animal to belong to Prim.

"Buttercup," she called out, ducking down to the cat's level. She was sure the youngest Everdeen would want their cat back. The cat, for looking like a rabid animal, was surprisingly affectionate, almost leaping into the blonde's arms. Maybe she was reminded of her rightful owner.

She entered the room, and noticed that no one in the foyer anymore. Voices echoed through the house, coming from the kitchen. Madge stepped through, on the brink of yelling who she had found, but stopped herself, noticing the tense environment.

A single red rose was on the kitchen table. It looked unnaturally bright, as if it were the only object in color surrounded by a monochromatic world.

Gale's hand was on Katniss's shoulder.

It was a sign.

Madge almost expected a note attached. "We have Peeta, do not fuck with us," from President Snow, with a flourished signature.

There they went again, taking and taking.

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**kind of at a block. next chapter suggestions?**


	27. Author's Note (Please Read)

**So I'm really unhappy with the way this story has been working out and I'm going to put it on hiatus for a bit. **

**This is not permanent by any means! **

**I just think I could do a better job with it and add a lot of chapters that I think needed to be included. (If anyone has suggestions for anything that could be added or needed to be added that would be very helpful).**

**I may change the POVs too. I'm not sure.**

**I'm keeping it up, and will tell you when the chapters are being replaced.**

**Thanks for reading. I love you all!**

**Celeste**


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